The story follows the adventures of two eleven year old children Lizzie and Sam when they discover a one-arm-bandit in an scrap yard where they had gone to hide from PC Goodrich. Eager to see if the machine worked, Sam pulls on the lever and, in the blink of an eye they are transported back in time to the burial of a Saxon King at Sutton Hoo. Relieved to find themselves safely returned to the scrap yard. their joy is short lived when they find PC Goodrich waiting there to apprehend them. But when the policeman spots the one arm bandit, unable to resist the temptation, PC Goodrich pulls down the handle. Instantly the trio are transported back in time to the banks of the Little Bighorn River in Montana at the very time that General Custer is making his famous last stand. With the seventh cavalry and the Indians locked in battle as it reaches its climax, before PC Goodrich can stop her, Lizzie suddenly rushes onto the battle-field, and without a thought for her own safety, she saves the life of a cavalry officers horse. Safely back in the scrap yard, thanks to the policeman's knowledge of American history, Lizzie learns that because of her bravery, the horse who's life she saved, would turn out to be the only survivor of the battle. But sadly there were to be no more time travel adventures, as a few weeks later the scrap yard was demolished, burying the one arm bandit under mounds of rubble. At least that's what Lizzie and Sam thought. But they were wrong. Thanks to a canny Scot named Hamish McGregor and his trusty old Transit van, the one arm bandit was in fact on its way up the A1 to Scotland.