Thirteen-year-old Jackson Jones becomes a young entrepreneur when his widowed neighbor, Mrs. Nelson, convinces him to get her neglected apple orchard up and going again.  If he does so, she promises the deed to the orchard to young Jackson.  Seeing dollar signs, Jackson accepts the challenge, getting a lesson in the hard work it takes to grow and sell apples.  He enlists his siblings and cousins in the hard work, keeping from them the fact that Mrs. Nelson will get the first $8,000 of the profits.  Young readers will get a lesson, along with Jackson, on the endless work and expenses of running a business.