Andy Seed is beginning his fifth year teaching at Cragthwaite Primary in the Yorkshire Dales, and as always a new term is full of surprises. These take the form of a beautiful, but not terribly bright, student on placement from the local teacher training college, and a particularly pushy and problematic parent with a fine line in complaining. It looks like Andy's pupils are the least of his problems...At home in Applesett, things aren't all rosy either. Barbara is forced to take a job as a postie to help pay the mortgage, which means finding someone to look after Tom and Reuben. When two old friends move into the village it looks like the problem has been solved, but it soon transpires that rural life is not for everyone. As always the book is peppered with the hilarious and heartwarming incidents that a life living and working with children inevitably contains.