Denise Fraser strikes up a friendship with Sylvie, a girl who travels on the same bus as herself to school. Then odd, suspicious things begin to happen; everyone who is nasty to Denise ends up in trouble of some sort. Denise begins to have doubts about Sylvie.
Anna Thorpe and her brother Sam are fostered out to the Sanders family while their mother is in hospital. Anna is not keen on living in the Sanders household because the daughter, Carla, is a spiteful, snobby, spoiled girl who always picks on her, but decides to do so for the sake of Sam, who does want to stay. But Carla is trying to get rid of them, so Anna has to constantly watch out for her tricks and foil them in which way she can.
Despite Anna’s efforts, Carla eventually succeeds in getting rid of her and Sam. But she is caught out later on when a witness, Lee, informs Mr Sanders that he overheard Carla bragging about it to his sister, who is Carla’s friend. The Sanders parents are furious and inform social welfare that Carla will be dealt with. Fortunately, by this time Mum has recovered enough to take care of Anna and Sam again. Before long, there are hints Lee and Anna are getting together.
Gail Moody and Charlotte Franklins are best friends who have formed a comedy double act and it is proving successful. They are anxious to keep their friendship together after they discover that their act is no good when they do it on their own. But difficulties arise that test their friendship. They end up falling out for real but have to pretend to be friends for the sake of the act – and then news of their bust-up is leaked to the newspapers. They suspect that Gail’s boyfriend Daniel Rigg is causing the trouble and set a trap for him.
Sarah Smith gets her first date with a boy called William. Too late she discovers that he is Billy Benson, who is a bitter rival of her brother Andrew, and she starts dating Billy in secret.
Kathy Cook is an only child who wishes she could see more of her other relations in Barchester. It looks like her wish has come true when her dad gets a transfer to Barchester, where they will be near their family at last. But Kathy begins to have second thoughts once she sees the problems that come with it.
Jenny Cooper’s mother makes up with her sister after a falling out years before, and she and Jenny go to stay with the aunt while Mr Cooper goes abroad. But the cousin, Rachel Fairweather, is going astray and getting in with a rough crowd, and Jenny is getting the blame for the trouble she causes. But Mum is anxious to keep the peace, having only just made up with her sister, and this is making it more difficult for Jenny to speak out.
When Meg Walker moves to a new town, she is pleased to make friends with Vicky and Joanne, who live on either side of her. But Vicky and Joanne hate each other, and Meg is caught in the middle.
Joy Layton has always wanted to be a ballerina, but her parents cannot afford ballet lessons. Madame Camille offers Joy free tuition, but Joy’s rough background is causing problems, from both the snobby pupils and the kids at her school, who think ballet is for snobs. When Madame Camille enters Joy and another pupil, Fiona Smethshurst, for a scholarship, Fiona is out to make sure she is the one who gets the scholarship.
Catriona Smythe is spoiled and selfish. Gran promises her a diamond ring for her sixteenth birthday, but the spoiled Catriona is not willing to wait until then, so she just takes the ring. But then a series of disasters follow, and each disaster seems to be accompanied by a diamond disappearing from the ring. Catriona becomes convinced some sort of supernatural power is at work to punish her for her crime. But her efforts to return the ring discreetly always end in failure, particularly as gran has been taken ill and her house is locked up.
When Melanie’s cousin Carrie comes to stay, she upsets Melanie’s friends with her arrogance and rudeness.
