The narrative follows a close-knit family and their neighbors in a small coastal village as the children claim a secluded hollow they call the secret valley for play, imagination, and private rituals. The arrival of a quiet, troubled girl in the parsonage and a new household nearby prompts misunderstandings, gossip, pranks, and moral tests that draw together children and adults alike. Episodes move between ghostly adventures, schoolroom incidents, fundraising and conduct schemes, and domestic interventions, and the community responds through patience, charity, and reform, producing reconciliations and quieter self-knowledge for several characters.