The plot concerns a young girl named Lucie who has a habit of losing her pocket handkerchiefs. Lucie goes out in search of three handkerchiefs and a pinafore which she has lost. She follows a path up a hill which leads to the home of a little washerwoman named Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. Lucie finds her handkerchiefs and pinafore there, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle having washed them. Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle also shows Lucie items of laundry which belong to various different animals. It is only at the end of the story when Lucie realizes that Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is a hedgehog.