In a shabby New York City side street in the mid-1880s, Young Cedric Errol lives with his mother in poverty in New York City. One day, they are visited by an English lawyer with a message from young Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, an unruly millionaire who despises the United States and was very disappointed when his youngest son married an American woman. With the deaths of his father's elder brothers, Cedric has now inherited the title Lord Fauntleroy and is the heir to the earldom and a vast estate. He offers his son's widow a house and guaranteed income, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, even after she declines his money. The Earl planned to teach his grandson how to be an aristocrat. Instead, Cedric teaches his grandfather that an aristocrat should practice compassion towards those dependent on him.

From the SeaWolf Press edition