With his parents' meeting Spike Milligan starts this story of his family's life: an imaginative blend of fact and fiction. Leo and Florence, newly married, set out for India where Leo is to serve in the British Army. Settled in India, the enjoyable oddities of colonial life are suddenly shattered by Leo's tragic death, which uproots the family, despatching them to England. Back home, Florence falls ill and the children are sent to a Dickensian children's home in the country; their flight from its horrors leads them miraculously into a magic world of innocence, mystery and laughter.