QuickTime Pro will allow you to do some basic editing on the timeline. You can copy and paste clips into the timeline, insert and delete, and export to several standard formats.
Do you know of any other QT editor that would be cheaper or freeware?
Quicktime Pro is the equivalent of a "Swiss Army Knive" for video. Great for format conversions, but the editing capability is very limited.
If the original author has a Mac, iMovie would be a better choice.