"Wait a minute!" Mr. Shaw said. "You want to take me back to the nineteenth century, to marry somebody there?" His daughter Susan must be mad! Only a girl suffering from hallucinations would make a request like that, on top of a wild story about a good witch, an elevator that travels to 1881, a vanquished scoundrel, a dug-up treasure, and a distressed nineteenth-century family named Walker. Better humor her, Mr. Shaw thinks, until I can get her to a doctor.

Susan is not mad. Her story is true. She and her new best friend Victoria Walker just know that when their parents meet it will be love at first sight, and the two families will become one.

But nothing happens the way it should. Their parents meet and don't fall in love. Domineering cousin Jane forbids more meetings. The treasure disappears overnight. The vanquished scoundrel returns, with sinister plans. Everything is spinning out of control!

So why does an old photo show that Susan's and Victoria's dream comes true?