The Captain's new commanding officer and his wife will be arriving for dinner and the children are asked to be silent and invisible. However, things get out of hand when Pip dares to go downstairs and steal some roast chicken. Suddenly all of the other children think they can do it as well. The Captain is thoroughly embarrassed.
Both Pip and Judy are trying their best to make up for the embarrassment they caused their father at the dinner party, but they're also upset that they missed out on the pantomime. One day while running errands they decide to make a detour to the Bondi aquarium to ride the roller coaster. They leave the General behind at the military barracks but he goes missing.
The Captain holds Judy responsible for the misbehaviour of the entire group of children and she is sent off to boarding school at Mount Victoria. She hates being away from her siblings but is hopeful that she might get to go home when there is an outbreak of measles at the school. Unfortunately her father has made other arrangements.
Judy is determined to run away and return home and so she embarks on a long hike through the wilderness back to Sydney. Meanwhile Meg is desperately trying to make her waist smaller so she looks more feminine, but by lacing up her corset too tightly she nearly faints. Then there is Bunty who's getting himself into all sorts of trouble by telling fibs.
Judy finally makes it home, she's starving and quite ill but she decides to hide out in the barn and she asks the other children not to tell Esther or the Captain that she is home for fear of being sent back to boarding school. The Captain is too busy worrying about his injured horse to notice what is going on. It was Bunty who hurt the horse when he hit it with a cricket ball.
The Captain finds out about Bunty injuring his prize horse and is determined to punish him severely despite Esther's pleas to leave him be. The couple still haven't heard from Judy and the strange actions of the children begin to arose his suspicions. The Captain eventually finds Judy in the barn and is about to punish her but then discovers that she's desperately ill.
Judy begins her to recover from her illness but the Doctor advises that she will fair better in a warmer climate. Judy starts to worry that the Captain will send her straight back to boarding school once she's is completely better. Thankfully Esther's parent's have invited all of the children to spend winter on their sheep property.
At Yarrahappini, Meg starts to develop a crush on the property manager Dick Gillet, but she then discovers that he's a drunk. Pip is busy lending a hand in the shearing shed and Bunty is still up to mischief although he's now in league with a young aboriginal friend. Meanwhile the Captain is starting to miss his family back at Misrule.
Esther thinks it is time they went home but her mother urges her to stay until after the local ball. She accompanies her father to the ball while the children go on one last picnic. Meg is still trying to get over Dick Gillet. The children have fun eating chops and damper, singing and playing games but the day ends in disaster.
In the final episode Esther and the children return to Misrule in Sydney and life goes on as essentially as it did before. Meg develops a friendship with a young fellow who is studying to be a Doctor. Bunty is working on a printing press and most importantly the Captain decides to spend more time with the children