The narrative opens during a bustling Christmas departure at Chilcombe Hall, where Lilias and Dulcie Ingleton prepare to ride home to Cheverley Chase. Life at the historic family estate is dominated by their autocratic grandfather, Leslie Ingleton, and their older brother Everard, who confidently assumes his role as the future squire. An unauthorized joy-ride in the family Daimler car results in a broken tire and a night stranded at a commercial hotel, an escapade that brings down the sharp anger of the old squire.
Soon after the Christmas holidays, a sudden tragedy strikes when the grandfather passes away unexpectedly. Mr. Bowden, the family solicitor, drops a bombshell: Everard is not the heir. The estate has been bequeathed to Leslie, the child of the late Uncle Tristram. Wounded in pride, Everard abandons the house secretly by night, vowing to earn his own living.
Back at Chilcombe Hall, the girls engage in school activities, organizing a Valentine party and preparing classic Greek dances for a garden fête in aid of charity. During the performance, Carmel—who has arrived from Sicily as the true heir—displays remarkable presence of mind by trapping a burglar in her dressing-room. It is eventually revealed that Leslie is a girl named Carmel, who feels like an exile from her sunny Sicilian home.
During a summer tour in Devonshire, the Ingleton sisters encounter a chauffeur named Johnson, who turns out to be none other than the runaway Everard. Reunited with his family through Carmel's intervention, Everard returns home to study under a tutor, finally shedding his arrogant pretensions. The story concludes with a journey to Sicily, where the Ingletons experience the warmth of Casa Bianca and the rich cultural tapestry of the Mediterranean.
