In the 1640s, during the English Civil War. Colonel Beverly, a royalist, the gentry of Arnley and the senior guardian of the New Forest, left to join the king's army. He died in the Battle of Edgehill, leaving his two sons and two daughters to be taken care of by their aunt Judith. A group of council soldiers and their Leveler missionary Abel Corbold arrived at Arnley. Beverly's four children were smuggled out of Arnley and brought to his home in the forest, where they were hidden by the royalist forest administrator Jacob Amitic. The children encountered various adventures, joined the family of Heatherstone, the new guardian of the Parliament's New Forest, and ultimately joined a conspiracy to help escape the imprisonment of King Charles.
