Eleven-year-old Cornelia lives in New York City and is the daughter of world-famous pianists--a legacy that should feel fabulous, but instead feels just plain lonely. She surrounds herself with dictionaries and other books to isolate herself from the outside world. But when a glamorous writer named Virginia Somerset moves next door with her servant Patel and mischievous French bulldog named Mister Kinyatta, Cornelia discovers that the world is a much more exciting place than she had originally thought.