When Paula returns from her quiet boarding school, she must learn anew to cope with a home that includes five rambunctious brothers, two eccentric aunts, bibliophile uncle, old Babbett, and energetic Mama. With Paula trying to adapt herself to new responsibilities and a new adult world, her brothers find plenty of fun and trouble-involving naval battles in flooded basements, gypsies and brushes with thin ice. Then everything is overshadowed by the Prussian takeover. Paula and her brothers must make firm choices about growing up in this story of an eventful year.