Eleven-year-old girls Gemma Jackson and Alice Barlow have been best friends from birth, ever since they were born on the same day and in the same hospital.

The two are polar opposites; Gemma is a tomboy who likes playing wild and exciting sports, while Alice is girly and loves ballet and the color pink.

On the way they are recognized and sussed out by classmate Billy "Biscuits" McVitie, whose baby sister Polly was baptised that same day at the church that Gemma and Alice passed en-route to the railway station; he tells his mother, who informs Alice's and Gemma's parents who in turn then catch the girls before they can board the train.

Gemma gradually starts to rebuild her life without Alice, including establishing her friendship with Biscuits.

Biscuits makes appearances in Jacqueline Wilson novels Cliffhanger and Buried Alive!, albeit with no proper first name and with the surname Baker.