A family, snowbound in a vacation cabin, discovers adventure in surrounding wild life, three children they find in the snow, and a search for a lost recipe.

Summer vacation on an almost private island gives the Aldens a challenge. Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny used to live alone in a boxcar. Now they have a home with their grandfather and are spending the summer on their own private island. There is a mysterious stranger on the island with a secret--but that's not the only surprise in store for the Boxcar Children.

A friendly writer with a metal detector, the mysterious inhabitants of a tower house, and the discovery of a locket in the sand are the ingredients for the Aldens' latest mystery.