When Mr. Cheeseman and his three "smart, polite, and relatively odor-free" children journey to the not-so-distant past, they meet something utterly surprising--the alternate versions of themselves.
Ethan Cheeseman takes his children, ages eight, twelve, and fourteen, and Captain Jibby and crew, to the year 1668 to end an ancient family curse and save the children's mother, but damage to the time machine and the arrival of Mr. 5 complicate their return.