It is summer term, and the youngest members of the Chalet School are looking forward to the weeks ahead with eager anticipation. Instead Robin Humphries, Amy Stevens, Peggy Burnett and their friends find themselves facing the challenge of a difficult new Matron, determined to get her way, even if it means riding roughshod over everyone in the school. The juniors join the other members of the school in demonstrating to Matron that they do not want her among them, but no sooner has she gone than they find themselves facing another challenge in the form of a second authority figure determined to make the juniors toe the line. The girls’ various attempts to rid themselves of this second nuisance result in them learning some very important lessons before the term ends. The events in this story take place during the same term as The Princess of the Chalet School and in her foreword and afterword Katherine Bruce has explained what a very odd book Princess is in the annals of the Chalet School.