The story starts in the Boxton Creek Home, an 'orphanage' run by the Trepids - a strict and dishonest husband and wife. An imaginative thirteen-year-old boy named Dallas and his sassy and bold twin sister Florida have been living in the Home for a long time, often punished for breaking rules that the Trepids post all over the house. Over the years, the twins have been adopted many times and quickly returned to the Home. Because of this, they have been named the "trouble twins." They have a plan to run away and take a train to a destination far from Boxton.