In a shabby New York City side street in the mid-1880s, young Cedric Errol lives with his mother in genteel poverty after the death of his father, Captain Cedric Errol. One day, they are visited by an English lawyer with a message from Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, an unruly millionaire who despises the United States. 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. Cedric's grandfather takes him to live in England and be educated as an English aristocrat.

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright, best known for her stories for children. Her most famous children's novels are The Secret Garden, A Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy.