Jo March - now Jo Bhaer - returns as a young woman with her family of her own. With her husband, Professor Bhaer, they open their hearts (and their home) to educate and care for a handful of rowdy yet well-meaning youngsters. Plumfield, the school where the boys learn 'how to help themselves and be useful men,' has a spirited student body that includes - in addition to the Bhaers' two sons - Nat, an orphaned street musician, cold and frightened when he first appears at the Bhaers' door; business-minded Tommy; Dan, a 'wild boy' eventually tamed by love and kindness; and other endearing mischief-makers. Outside the classroom, the boys rush headlong from one prank to another - from playing matador with the family cow to nearly setting the school afire with a smouldering cigar stub. But in the end, they prove to have a positive effect on the lives of the entire Bhaer family. Also available in Virago Children's Classics: Little Women, Good Wives and Little Men