Jack, Olive, VIolet, and Judith are youngsters in this first novel in a series set in the fictitious world of Northwest England. They have met a mysterious Burmese gentleman and the town librarian who have stolen a plant with rumoured alchemic abilities from a grand old estate in the Holly District. If the plant were to fall into the wrong hands it would have dire consequences reaching far beyond the little country town of Roseberry Topping.