Contains thirteen stories about the Brown family, the disagreements that occur with the author over the plots of the stories, and the activities of the writer as he writes the stories.
Fairy tale characters tell their stories from their own perspective, with new endings, and find themselves encountering each other as their stories overlap.
As Mr. Gaskitt takes a series of jobs and Mrs. Gaskitt keeps winning prizes, their nine-year-old twins, Gus and Gloria, follow a substitute teacher who seems too good to be true.