Young Gwenda Reed arrives in England from New Zealand, travelling ahead of her husband Giles and charged with the task of finding the perfect place to make their base. Wanting porch stairs, Gwenda hires a builder to put them in - only to find some old steps, covered up by bushes.
The pleasant village of Market Kindle in the south of England is home to Stoneygates, a school for delinquent boys housed in a Victorian mansion belonging to the rich and elderly Carrie Louise Serrocold and her husband Lewis.
