Her real name is Evangeline Josephine Freeland -- but she has had the nickname Dot since before she can remember, and never calls herself anything else. Dot has free run of Roselawn, a country estate her father bought in hopes the outdoor life will restore her health. And run freely is exactly what she does, day after day, with ever greater spring to her steps, and with ever greater appetite. One morning, finishing her breakfast and scampering out upon the Lawn, Dot notices a tiny path leading through a high, thick hedge. "I'll explore!" she says to herself, and scoots herself through . . . to behold a tiny vine-covered cottage, and, on the path leading to it, a little boy with a broad-brimmed straw hat. The boy is the gardener's son, Tot -- who proves a wonderful playmate from the start . . . and a fine partner in adventures: for the two are swept away on a boat, and find themselves casting up in a strange place they never knew existed -- Merryland!