When her grandmother gets sick, eleven-year-old Lorrie Mallard is sent to live with her aunt in the U.S. Things were different back home in Canada, and Lorrie is homesick—especially when boys like Jimmy Purvis and Stan Wormiski tease her.

One day, Lorrie finds herself at the door of Octagon House, where she is welcomed by the elderly Miss Ashemeade and her servant, Hallie. Could the kindly Miss Ashemeade truly be a witch, like everyone says? Lorrie doesn’t know, but with the help an old rocking horse and a dollhouse she finds in a mysterious eight-sided room, she begins to unlock the secrets of Octagon House.