When the Wills move to the rural town of Star Center, their daughter Jenny immediately makes friends with a group of girls whom she had known from Camp anda. All the campers are invited to a ranch in Colorado for the following summer. Since one of Jenny's friends can't afford the trip, the five Star Center girls decide to spend the winter earning the money for the holiday. They raise money through various projects--selling fudge, shelling walnuts, babysitting. Their major scheme, however, is to be a circus featuring Jenny (who has always been terrified of horses) as bareback rider. Eventually Jenny discovers the impossibility of her plan, but fortunately a talented dog shows up as a replacement and the circus is a big hit in Star Center. The story is slight, the characters superficial.