The doll family in the old dollhouse doesn't mind when Cynthia gets Tidy Castle as a present, even when she dismisses their house as Racketty-Packetty House and sticks it behind the door. They had fallen from the "gay and fashionable life" and become shabby over the years since Cynthia's Grandmamma first owned them, but it does not dampen their spirits one bit! They dance in circles until they're hysterical and all fall down laughing, and have much more fun than the lords and ladies in Tidy Castle.

When Cynthia gives the Tidy Castle dolls scarlet fever, the old dolls are quite kind-hearted to their fancy neighbors and all manage to become friends. But when Cynthia expects an important visitor and wants the nurse to burn Racketty-Packetty house, things look quite serious, even for the ever-optimistic old doll family. Fortunately, Queen Crosspatch and her Fairies are quite fond of the Racketty-Packetty dolls, and they will find a way to save Racketty-Packetty House.

This is one of the goofiest, most frenetic doll books ever, with spectacular illustrations by Harrison Cady.