In Victorian England in the 1880s, widowed undertaker Cedric Brown has seven unruly children. He is clumsy and loves his children, but since the death of his wife, has spent little time with them and cannot handle them. The children have had a series of nannies, whom they have systematically driven out by their bad behaviour. They also take great pleasure in terrorizing their cook, Mrs. Blatherwick. Besides their father, the only one the children will ever listen to is Evangeline, the family's uneducated but sweet-natured scullery maid.
On a farm during World War II In 1943 while her husband is away at war, Isabel Green is driven to her wits end by her hectic life. Between trying to keep the family farm up and running and her job in the village shop, run by the slightly mad Mrs. Docherty, she also has three boisterous children to look after, Norman, Megsie and Vincent. When her children's two wealthy cousins, Cyril and Celia, also then come to live with them and start fighting with them, Isabel requires childcare help.