When Mrs Underwood dies, her 13 children are left orphaned and must rely on each other for survival. The eldest, Felix, and his sister Wilmet become the family’s “pillars,” determined to keep their siblings together in their struggling household in Bexley. Despite their genteel background, they live in modest, lower‑middle-class conditions, working, sacrificing, and caring for one another. The novel also addresses disability through the character of the artist Geraldine Underwood, whose leg is amputated after an illness and who becomes an artist.