We study the phase diagram of coupled spin-1/2 chains with bilinear and (chiral) three-spin exchange interactions in a magnetic field. The model is soluble on a one-parametric line in the space of coupling constants connecting the limiting cases of a single and two decoupled Heisenberg chains with nearest neighbour exchange only. We give a complete classification of the low-energy properties of the integrable system and introduce a numerical method which allows to study the possible phases of spin ladder systems away from the soluble line in a magnetic field.