A book are about six children living in a tiny, remote village in Sweden set in the late 1930s, a relatively calm time in Sweden, although a war "starting soon" is sometimes briefly mentioned in newspapers the children are reading. The agricultural world is still in a pre-industrial state (no tractors or harvesters) but there are cars in the village and shops are available.

The narrator is a little girl named Lisa; she tells us about her life and adventures in the small and neat Swedish village Bullerby (Bullerbyn in Swedish). The village consists of three lined up houses in which live seven children with their parents and housekeepers: Lisa with her older brothers Lasse and Bosse, the siblings Britta and Anna, as well as Olle with his little sister Kerstin.