After a long winter, summer is a welcome time for Miss Read and her village friends.

SUMMER AT FAIRACRE charmingly recounts this bright, bustling season and the problems and possibilities that unfold against the backdrop of roses, skylarks and bees.

Joseph Coggs finds a temporary home in the schoolhouse while his mother is in the hospital. Miss Read's friend Amy mysteriously disappears. Perhaps most difficult of all, Mrs Pringle, the grumpy school cleaner, is unable to work because of her bad leg.

Still, the sounds of children playing and the fragrance of summertime flowers fill the air, as Miss Read shepherds her students and friends through the warm season.