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. Its 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. As his tale of discovery unfolds however both What-the- Dickens and Dinah come to see that the world is both richer and less sure than they ever imagined.