On his doctor's orders, Edgar Appletree and his sister are staying at a quiet country cabin so that Edgar can relax and calm his nerves. Upon their arrival however, they are greeted with a barrage of gunfire. Edgar learns from a boy named Charlie McCarthy that that gunfire is the result of a longstanding feud between the neighboring McCarthy and Jenkins families. Edgar also learns one interesting fact of the feud: that the warring sides stop and have meals together in part to count how many McCarthy and how many Jenkins are left. As Edgar and his sister have lunch with the clans, they learn more about Charlie, specifically his atrocious academic record and his infatuation with an Appletree of the female variety.