Judy, Stink, and their mother take Frank to the hospital, where his broken finger diagnosis is confirmed. Judy feels horrible but is relieved when a nurse suggests that she and her brother head to a nearby playroom to wait. Judy and Frank enter the room and see it is decorated with teddy bears that all have various ailments. There is one girl in the room, Laura, who is in a wheelchair. Stink asks what happened to her, and Laura answers that she had a heart transplant. She has to stay in the hospital until the doctors are sure that her new heart works well.

Judy suggests playing with some of the doctor toys, but Laura no longer finds that sort of thing fun. When Judy finds a box of dolls, Laura laments that all the dolls are sick or broken. Judy wishes that Laura had some better dolls to play with. Before leaving, Judy grabs the dolls and stuffs them into Stink’s backpack. She has a plan.

Judy takes out the dolls from the hospital and sits them on her worktable. She pulls out her collection of doll parts, including heads, torsos, and limbs, as well as some hair and accessories.