The Cloud of Spruce family make Marigold's life pleasant, if a little dull, but she nonetheless has her share of adventures, fancies and troubles, many related to the peculiar environment she grew up in.

Marigold spends much of her childhood playing with her imaginary friend Sylvia, not ignoring other children, but not forming lasting bonds.

The book relates Marigold's seemingly incurable jealousy of her father's first wife, Clementine; an encounter with a Russian princess; several attempts to be "good;" her first romance; and a surprising cooking triumph.

As Marigold grows up she maintains an unabated attachment to Sylvia, which begins to worry her family.

But when a boy, nicknamed Budge, moves in next door Marigold learns to enjoy real friendship, and eventually how to share friends with other people.