A new priest, John Meredith, arrives at St. Mary's Glen, a widower with four children — Gerald (Jerry), Faith, Una and Thomas Carlisle (Carl). Naughty children constantly get into trouble, which calls into question their father's ability to educate and occupy his post. The only people they are friendly and open to are the Blythe family.The children of Anya and Gilbert, the Merediths and the orphan Mary Vance chose one place for games — a hollow behind a grove, which they called Rainbow Valley. Jim Blythe decides to organize a "Good Behavior" Club to teach the Merediths to behave themselves. For a misdemeanor, children themselves come up with a punishment. As a result of one of these, Carl falls ill with pneumonia after spending several hours in the rain at the cemetery, and Una faints at a church service after a day of fasting. John Meredith blames himself as a lousy father and decides to get married to give the children a mother. He proposes marriage to a single woman in her thirties, Rosemary West, but is rebuffed by her older sister Ellen, because after the death of her parents, the sisters promised not to leave each other. Soon Ellen herself joins her fate with her long-time lover, and John and Rosemary are getting better.According to the chronology of the action, this is the seventh book in the series about Anya Shirley and her extended family.The novels about Ana Shirley are a classic story of growing up with ups and downs, sorrows and joys. In 2017, a very soulful series "Ann" was released, based on a series of novels about Ana.