A terrible storm is raging, and ten year old Dinah is huddled by candlelight with her brother, sister, and cousin Gage, who is telling a very unusual tale. It's the story of What-the-Dickens, a newly hatched orphan creature who finds he has an attraction to teeth, a crush on a cat named McCavity, and a penchant for getting into trouble. One day he happens upon a feisty girl skibberee who is working as an Agent of Change, trading coins for teeth, and learns that there is a dutiful tribe of skibbereen (call them tooth fairies) to which he hopes to belong.