For eight-year-old Rufus, life has become complicated. His mother and father, Josie and Tom, have divorced amicably enough, and are set to pursue their separate paths. But other people have had to become involved – like Matthew, who has just married Josie, and Elizabeth, Tom’s new friend. And even worse, there are the other children – Matthew’s three resentful teenagers, who have been conditioned by their own mother Nadine to hate Josie. Rufus is supposed to regard them as family now, although he doesn’t see why he should.

Most of the time Matthew’s children live with Nadine, in a slum-like cottage in the depths of the country. Nadine is determined that they should hate their new life as much as she does. They come to their father for weekends, and make it clear how much they loathe their new stepmother. Rufus secretly perfers to be with his father in his quiet house in Bath, and realises that he does not necessarily hate the idea of a stepmother – not if she was like Elizabeth, sane and friendly and welcoming. But where other people’s children are concerned, neat solutions seldom occur.