It is implied that the canon takes place from mid-1991 to December 1995 (see below for details), and follows the adventures of the titular character, Sophie, between the ages of four-and-a-bit, and roughly one week after her eighth birthday (Christmas Day, 1995).
The youngest of three children, she lives with her mother and father, and her identical twin brothers - Matthew and Mark - both two years older than her.
She is a keen animal lover, and over the course of the six books she acquires various pets, including a cat (Tomboy), a rabbit (Beano), a dog (Puddle), and finally a pony (Lucky).
At the end of the final book, 'Sophie's Lucky', after her beloved Great-Great-Aunt Alice ('Aunt Al') peacefully dies of old age, she is left a Scottish farm as her eventual inheritance.
She is often described as wearing a faded blue jumper with her name written on it, jeans and red wellies, and her hair is often quoted as looking like she's come through a hedge backwards.
She repeatedly employs certain phrases throughout the books, exclaiming 'yikes' when amazed or alarmed, and frequently describes people with whom she is displeased as 'mowldy [sic], stupid and assive'.
The stories are told from Sophie's point of view, and there is the implication that she perceives certain animals she encounters as using the same phrases, or possessing the same traits, as she does.
They give her a tractor and trailer for her birthday and Christmas combined in support of her aspirations, and call Dawn a 'beastly girl' for squashing one of Sophie's woodlice in 'Sophie's Snail'.
They take time out from their football to watch and support her and Andrew practicing for the three-legged race in 'Sophie Hits Six', and describe her as having been 'brilliant' in her role as the Pied Piper in 'Sophie is Seven'.
He is described as being fond of cricket ('Sophie is Seven', and is very into organizing sports at home, including the annual 'Olympic games' in late April for the twins' birthday ('Sophie's Tom').
Aunt Al lives in a large house – complete with at least one employed domestic staff member – in the Scottish Highlands.
Thus they become longstanding enemies, although at Aunt Al's insistence, Sophie manages to speak some words of reassurance to her during their first riding lesson.
However, when Sophie reveals her plan to marry Andrew he is watching Television and simply replies "Oh, alright" to everything she says, thus is unaware of his fate ('Sophie Is Seven').
Andrew however remains glued to a sports channel on television, apparently uninterested anymore in farming talk or at all bothered that his 'fiancé's' is moving away.
Tomboy is subsequently spayed, much to Sophie's disappointment, as she had wanted to breed kittens to raise money for her farm ('Sophie Hits Six').
Beano – Sophie's second pet; a large albino rabbit who is a present from Aunt Al in return for Tomboy's kitten, Ollie.
Sophie wonders what to call her new rabbit, and when she learns from Aunt Al that he has pink eyes because he is Albino, she settles for 'Beano' on the grounds that they already have an 'Al' in the family ('Sophie Hits Six').
At Andrew's farm she discovers that his dog Lucy (a terrier) has given birth to a litter of puppies, one of which Sophie falls in love with.
The week after that Christmas, when the family have moved into Aunt Al's property, the twins are given two brand new mountain bikes, and Sophie is given Lucky for her own.
During the process of rehoming the kittens in 'Sophie Hits Six', Aunt Al rings up to ask if they have all gone, and Sophie explains that only one is left - the black one.
Aunt Al asks if she may have him since her elderly cat has died, and changes his name from Holly to Ollie, short for Oliver.
In addition to appearing in print, all six books have been recorded undramatised and unabridged, read by Bernard Cribbins, and have been subsequently released both as Cassette tapes and CDs.