When Elizabeth joins Whyteleafe School she is determined to misbehave so that she will be expelled and able to return home as soon as possible.

She is surprised to find that the children run the school through weekly community meetings, and that her behaviour will be judged by her peers.

[1] Elizabeth Allen is a pretty girl with dark curly hair and blue eyes.

But it isn't enough to have a pretty face and a merry smile — you must have a good heart too.Completely unlike Elizabeth, Joan Townsend is gentle, timid, shy and nervous about confronting people or speaking in public.

She was a red-haired girl with freckles who is timid because she was left in the background by her parents, who had another child, a boy called Michael who died when he was young.

Although timid, Joan is not weak or silly; later in the series she is found to be an extremely mature and understanding girl.

Nora O'Sullivan, a monitor at Whyteleafe school, is a girl who upholds its traditions.

Nora looks after the girls in dormitory 6 including Elizabeth, Joan, Ruth, Belinda and Helen.

Although Harry Dunn is introduced as a sly-faced boy and a cheat, his behaviour was dealt with and cured by the "Meeting".