Three brothers and four pork chops make for trouble. As Brian sees it, there are too many brothers and not enough chops.

As his mother sees it, Dwight, Roy, and Brian fight (over ear size, pork chops, the pudding pot — you name it) because they need their father, who's long since disappeared. There was Uncle Ted, but he died and now the family's had to move to a hole-in-the-wall apartment in a rough section of Boston. Once there, the boys run across such original neighbors as Nora O'Leary, who knows the neighborhood's secrets and doesn't mind sharing them; Billy Blackstock, an eleven-year-old pirate; crabby old One-eyed Crevins; and "Foshey Bones," tyrannical mistress of the walloping broom.

Enter Currie Wichita, master of the bullwhip, and a match for any meanie who might threaten Jennifer Jefferson or her three sons. Currie is also a spinner of tales, a candidate for the stickball hall of fame, a joke-teller, an inventor, wall painter celestial, good friend and loving substitute father. He's also wanted by the police.

No matter. Currie is enough original neighbors all in one to last Brian a lifetime. If Currie will only stay put so the lifetime can last ...