When Fred Carpenter suggests to his wife, Sally, that they should take a boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads, she is filled with trepidation. Nevertheless she summons her courage and they and their bull-terrier Bill set off, with Fred at the helm of Dogfish Three. Sally's misgivings are soon justified, as a series of disasters - human, nautical and canine - threaten to ruin their holiday. Then everything changes as they make friends with the boating...

To John, Susan, Titty and Roger, simply being allowed to use the boat to go camping on the island is adventure enough. They find themselves under attack from the fierce Amazon Pirates, Nancy and Peggy. And so begins a summer of battles and discovery.