Cadmium, Saffron, Indigo and Rose are as colourful as the paint chart which inspired their names. But when Saffron finds her name is not on the colour chart, she discovers she has been adopted. This is the start of her hilarious search for the stone angel that she remembers from her dreams.

Barney, a solitary eight-year-old, visits the local rubbish dump, where he bumps into a strange creature with shaggy hair. He names him Stig. They learn to understand one another, and together they improve Stig's cave and spend Barney's school holidays in pursuit of adventure.

Jeremy James was worried. If he didn't have any hair he would be balcled. As well as saving his hair, he has to save his tricycle, the Third World, and Richard's smoking gran. He also finds something nasty in the cellar and something nice in a boot sale.