Immediately following the death of her father, fifteen-year-old Julie is shipped down to Somerset to stay with an aunt and uncle she hardly knows. The visit with Margaret, Paul and the baby, Sonia, gets off to a rocky start. Julie doesn’t like being in the country, and she makes sure everybody knows it. Yet, now that her father is dead, she knows she will be unhappy when she returns to London.
In a very bad mood, Julie runs away, and Paul has to go looking for her. In the meantime, she meets Rena, Margaret’s eccentric, artist friend who is working in her garden. She bonds instantly with Rena who has a life-changing effect on her. What will happen to her when Paul finds her? Will she ever fit in with the family?