Family bonds, and kindness from the community, make for a poignant story of two children, Sarah and Simon, and how they help in a time of need. Their father is a talented painter, but unacknowledged, and so the family is poor, though very happy. When the story opens, the father is painting his masterpiece. Sarah and Simon are helpers and spend their time doing chores and visiting their favorite place in town: the old second-hand bookshop with its kind owner. Soon the masterpiece is almost finished, except for the bit of red paint needed to complete it, and even the dealer agrees to buy it if it were finished the next day. But there is no more red paint, and no more money left. So Sarah and Simon set out to help their father...