Christopher Plummer

King Lear is universally acknowledged as one of Shakespeare's greatest tragic roles. Plummer has played the role under the direction of Sir Jonathan Miller (who, we discover, has directed it six times).

Lord Cucuface arrives at the Old House with a large chunk of prize-winning cheese (for fondue) and a new touring car. While Cucuface takes Miss Clavel for a calamitous driving lesson, the mice eat the cheese.

In the middle of the winter holiday season, Miss Clavel gets called away from the Old House to care for her ailing aunt. Lord Cucuface replaces her with Mr. Grump, who is more of a drill sergeant than headmaster.

When the girls go for pony rides in the park, Madeline's pony, Gallop, (the smallest) does all sorts of fancy tricks and finally takes off, trotting across Paris! Soon they are discovered by Buffalo Ben, who invites them to appear in his touring Wild West Show.

To raise money to buy Miss Clavel a birthday present, Madeline starts a detective school. Meanwhile, Miss Clavel is receiving mysterious gifts of great value - jewels, a painting, etc. Inspector Moreau discovers they are stolen by the infamous cat burglar Le Chat and arrives to question Miss Clavel.

For their entry in the Science Exhibition, Madeline and the girls create a magnificent scale model of a hot air balloon. During the exhibition, Genevieve falls asleep in the balloon's basket and the balloon inadvertently takes off. With Genevieve floating over Paris, Madeline and Pepito enlist the aid of Professor Windbag, a hot air balloon "expert" who is more full of hot air than knowledge.

Pepito becomes frustrated when an old lamp from the Embassy attic fails to produce a Genie, and he throws the lamp in the trash. That night a frayed old Magic Carpet comes to Madeline's window and asks her help in finding the discarded lamp, because it does indeed have a Genie inside.

Madeline, the girls, Pepito, and his three naughty cousins go on a field trip to Egypt. Nicole becomes terrified when they experience a series of mishaps - from getting locked in the museum to getting caught in a desert dust storm on camelback. Then the group gets lost in the pyramids and encounters a mummy who speaks to them in an echoey voice and curses them with bad luck!

It is Madeline's birthday, and Pepito and his father take her to the zoo while Miss Clavel and the girls get the house ready for a surprise birthday party. But when a mischievous monkey lets all the animals out of their cages, Madeline feels responsible and fails to make it home in time for the party. In the end, Miss Clavel relocates the festivities and Madeline gets to celebrate with her animal pals.

The Old House, sorely in need of repair, is condemned and the girls are forced to move to a small apartment where their snooty neighbors hate kids and dogs. But just before the wrecking ball destroys their beloved abode, Madeline enlists the aid of the ladies of the Historical Society, who help get the Old House renovated to perfection.