On a dark and stormy night, five children and their teacher on a school trip arrive at an old mansion in a van.

 There is no sign of the rest of the students who are travelling by bus. The children wonder why they were 

picked to travel in the van. There is a blackout and the children have to spend the night  in dark tower room. 

There they discover a secret room. In the hidden room, they find an old diary. The diary belonged to Richard 

Clayton Harwick, a boy who lived a hundred year ago. The diary contains Richard 's story. Richard's story is a sad one. After his father died, his mother remarried. His stepfather was a wicked man who mistreated him. Richard ran away to sea. Only years later did he find out that his mother and his sister had not given up looking for him. Richard returned to Harwick Hall to learn that his mother had died broken-hearted. His sister had entered a loveless marriage and died during childbirth.His account end abruptly without revealing his decision to stay or to leave. Richard's story leads the rest of the children to tell their own stories one by one. They realize what they have in common.