Relates the adventures and misadventures of the four Moffat children living with their widowed mother in a yellow house on New Dollar Street in the small town of Cranbury, Connecticut.

Rather than a summer of fun transforming her family's pharmacy into an eco-spa, Lucy Desberg must face her sister Claudia's new boyfriend Bean, investor Gary's irritating daughter Bevin, and a spa coordinator who is put in charge of the plans.

Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut relate how their lives are changed for the better by "rookie teacher" Mr. Terupt.