Two little waifs - abandoned in the woods by their evil step-mother if one is to believe them - are found on the Moominhouse porch. This sad occurrence might have been handled better if Snorkmaiden hadn't just finished reading a book about Motherhood, a book which kept her up all night, filling her bosom with strange feelings. She clasps the children to her, smothering them in motherly love and it takes - even for Snorkmaiden - unusually long to find out that children are much like grown-ups; there are nice ones and then those less nice.