In 1855 the Hawthornes came to Leamington Spa for the first time. This book presents an almost day-by-day account of the family's life during three periods of residence in Leamington. It also relates how they amused and instructed themselves in the thriving Spa town and its attractive surrounding countryside, making trips to such well-known "tourist traps" as Coventry, Warwick, Rugby, Kenilworth, and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Unfortunately, for several reasons, to a large extent the subsequent and much-anticipated return to their home in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1860 did not result in any real benefit.