The book takes place in a
village in the Swedish countryside during the 1930s. Fia and her mother Mrs Pettersson, a piano teacher, live in the big house of the village's "häradshövding" (a countryside local judge/
lawspeaker), where the bad-tempered housekeeper Malin lives. People say bad things about Mrs Pettersson because she is useless and lazy as she just plays piano. Fia always gets teased by her school mates because she has a useless mother who is a piano teacher in their school. One summer day, a boy called Hampus comes to the village together with his stepparents, his uncle who is a poor
shoemaker and his wife, and their 6 children. The shoemaker's wife and her children think Hampus is stupid as he "always makes trouble and makes them move house" as they have changed home often. When Hampus and Fia meet, they don't want to say their real names. The two children, who are alienated, start their own
fraternity and call themselves
"Fideli" (Fia) and
"Farornas konung" ("King of the Dangers", Hampus). They "fight" for a white stone and order each other on "missions": "when you have completed the "mission" you'll get the stone". ==TV series==