Twelve-year-old Henry York is going to sleep one night when he hears a bump on the attic wall above his head.It's an unfamiliar house - Henry is staying with his aunt, uncle and three cousins - so he tries to ignore it. But the next night he wakes up with bits of plaster in his hair. Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers doors - ninety-nine cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room - with a man strolling back and forth! Henry and his cousin Henrietta soon understand that these are not just cupboards. They are, in fact, portals to other worlds.