The Ainsworth sisters, Rebecca, Sophie and Hazel, died in the mid 1800s and are given a second chance to experience life as teenagers 150 years later. As such, they are three very refined, but spirited, Victorian girls, trying to fit into a society totally alien to the one they have known. However hard they may try to fit in and not call attention to themselves, they will always stand out a bit from the crowd. Hazel is distraught to learn that a peppercorn tree that she planted with her mother as a young girl is to be torn down to make way for a new vegetable garden. Posing as an energy saving environmentalist, Hazel starts a campaign intent on educating the school on all things 'green'. Meanwhile, Sophie has a struggle on her hands to convert her peers into literary lovers.