Josie Peters is number one in her class. The class is going on a field trip, but she thinks she cannot go because her family is too poor to pay for it. Her school has a fund for situations like that, but her father will not accept any charity and insists that he will get the money himself. The night before the field trip Ralph Peel, Len Peter's employer, is mugged and the proceeds of the day are stolen. Josie also has a crush on her teacher Roger Gifford, and when her father reads about it in her diary he believes that her fantasies about him are true. The ventriloquist Ernie Dobson has died and left his dummy Enoch to David, who treats the dummy like a real person and drives Vernon Scripps mad.

Somebody breaks in at John Harper's cottage and swaps the old, blind man's money with blank pieces of paper. The only visitor Harper can think of is Albert Ross. There is nothing but trouble with Ross. All he thinks about is money and how much it will cost him when his men are not working. When the police cannot do anything after yet another accident at his farm the workers take matters in their own hands. Furthermore Nurse Cassidy suspects that Ross beats his grownup daughter Juliet for seeing the worker Josh. David spots a naked man running through the woods. Later he and Aunt Peggy see the man throw himself from a bridge. Only David's actions save him from drowning and now the man sees David as his guardian angel. When Aunt Peggy discovers his true identity she tries to cash in on it.