The Five Little Peppers are off to school - Joel and Davie at a boys' boarding school, Polly, Phronsie and Ben at home. At first the storyline shifts between the boys and the girls, until the boys come home for the holidays and all the children are caught up in plans to help the poor family of a brakeman who was killed in an accident. Meanwhile Polly struggles to keep Jasper's friend from being expelled, Phronsie has a frightening accident and Ben works hard to repay Mr. King.