 Young Cedric Errol lives with his widowed mother in New York City. Cedric s late father was a son of the Earl of Dorincourt, but the Earl had objected strongly to his son s marriage, and thus has long been estranged from Cedric and his mother. But when the Earl s only surviving son dies in a riding accident, Cedric suddenly becomes Lord Fauntleroy, the Earl s heir. Cedric and his mother travel to England, where they must overcome the Earl s hard feelings about the past, as well as some unexpected obstacles.