The Guardians tells the story of Rob Randall's gradual awakening to the realities of his world and his own responsibilities within it. Although it emerges that Rob's father had been involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the Guardians, Rob has been brought up— presumably for his own protection—as much as possible like any other boy in the Conurb. Only after his father's death and his own arrival at a repressive state boarding school does life in the Conurb become insupportable for Rob. He manages to escape to the County, where he is befriended by Mike Gifford, a boy who, like Rob, has somehow managed to resist some of his conditioning.

After Mike persuades his mother to assist them, Rob is taken in by the family at Gifford House and passed off as a distant relative from Nepal. Starved for privacy, real...