When Pip Biddle and his sisters are suddenly orphaned he packs up his father`s paints and readies for the road. He will travel and paint portraits, just as their father did, and earn enough to get his sisters out of the poorhouse. But the life of a limner is much harder than Pip imagines. The only things that keep him going are the thought of his loving sisters and the portraits he paints of his faithful dog, Biscuit. Pip finally returns to his sisters, empty-handed. But a delightful surprise awaits him when he discovers that he is not the only one in the family with artistic talents in a book that expounds the value of home and family.