The Thistle family arrive in Rio, Brazil, full of excitement about the dream holiday that awaits them. However, when a planned day out at the water park (or a museum for dad, Colin) gets interrupted by the Blood Knife Gang, things quickly take a turn for the worse. Encountering many nerve-wracking twists and turns along the way, the Thistles just hope that they can survive all the challenges that the jungle has in store for them.

Mrs Tripplehorn is a primary school teacher and the day has come for her to retire. Being her favourite teacher, she hands Mr Shaw a dusty little box as a goodbye gift. On the first day back after the summer holidays, Mr Shaw is desperately searching his desk for a paper clip and is relieved to find one in the dusty box. The reason Mrs Tripplehorn was so sure he would be grateful for this gift then becomes clear to Mr Shaw, as the school year ahead of him is packed full of twists and turns, surprises and a large sprinkling of magic. There is one huge problem though. The school bad boy, Billy Coles, overhears a conversation between Mrs Tripplehorn and Mr Shaw. She tells him to NEVER go into the bottom compartment of the box - EVER! Obviously, Billy decides that he must find out what she means...and that is when the trouble really does begin!