Young Cedric (Ceddie) Errol along with his widowed mother (known only as"Dearest") are now living in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the passing of the father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long past disowned his son marrying an American. But after the Earl son's passing, he makes the decision to just accept the little Cedric as Lord Fauntleroy, his heir.