Orlando buys a derelict farm as a present for the kittens, and having tidied up and sorted out all the animals who have been living inside the farmhouse-pits in the parlour armchairs, hens in the plate rack and bees in the spare room-he, Grace and the kittens spend a wonderful year making butter, going to market, harvesting, lambing, and all the work of a farm. This book is especially based on Kathleen Hale's own experiences as a land girl in the First World War.