The past few years have produced remarkable advances in our understanding of the cutaneous immune response. A better understanding of T-cell trafficking (reviewed in Kupper and Fuhlbrigge, 2004), the emerging role of defensins in innate immunity (reviewed in Oppenheim et al, 2003 and Bardan et al, 2004), and the re-emergence of the suppressor cell as the T-regulatory cell (reviewed in O’Gara and Vieira, 2004, and Jonuleit and Schmitt, 2003) are changing our understanding of the immunopathology of a wide variety of cutaneous diseases and opening new opportunities to manipulate systemic immune responses using the readily accessible skin immune system. In some cases, new discoveries are challenging old paradigms, forcing a reconsideration of previous established concepts and resulting in a deeper understanding of cutaneous immune function. Dendritic cells have long been recognized as key regulators of cutaneous immunity. New evidence regarding the origin, function, and remarkable plasticity of cutaneous dendritic cells (DCs) provides an exciting example of evolving paradigms in skin immunology. How can we reconcile these new experimental results with established principles? While a definitive discussion is well beyond the scope of this review, we can outline some of what we know, and what we think we know. We leave it to the reader to decide which is which. At the present time, maybe the only clear conclusion is that there has never been a more exciting time to be a cutaneous immunologist.