Samantha Josephine “Sammy” Keyes loves to observe the world through her binoculars. Her grandmother, Rita “Grams” Keyes, tells her that she’ll get into trouble because of her binoculars, but the girl disregards this warning because Grams constantly frets over Sammy’s diet, clothes, and activities. However, she realizes the truth of her grandmother’s words when she sees a man steal from the hotel across the street from Grams’s apartment and the thief spots her.

Sammy lives in a fifth-floor apartment with Grams. An elderly woman named Mrs. Daisy Graybill lives down the hall, and Sammy considers her “the nosiest person who ever lived” (3). Sammy has few possessions, so her options to entertain herself are limited. Through her binoculars, she observes local businesses, including the Pup Parlor, the Bargain Books owned by Mr. Bell, and the Heavenly Hotel. Grams considers the hotel a disreputable place, but Sammy didn’t observe anything interesting the one time that she went into the hotel’s lobby.

One day, Sammy peers into a room on the hotel’s fourth floor and witnesses a man with brown hair, a bushy beard, and black gloves rifling through a purse.