Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived.

Afraid to actually ask Tina Zabinski for a date, eighth-grader Kevin spends most of his time theorizing about love and romance and observing and analyzing male/female interaction.

On a trip to the park with her mother, a young girl hears a rhythm coming from the world around her and begins to move to the beat, finally beginning an impromptu dance in which other childen join her.

Marty Bronson raises his son and daughter on his own. He has to sell his homey motel to Barry Nottingham who promises to make Marty's son manager. But, Nottingham pulls down the motel and builds a pricey hotel. Now grown up, Marty's son, Skeeter, works as a janitor and general servant. He still dreams of becoming the manager. When Nottingham announces a brand-new hotel, built on an existing school's property, he makes his future son-in-law, Kendall, manager. Skeeter's sister Wendy, has to leave town for a job interview and asks him to alternate looking after her two children Patrick and Bobbi, with Wendy's colleague, Jill. He doesn't get along with either Jill or the children, but his easy-going attitude loosens them all up. He starts telling the children bedtime stories and the children grow fond of him. They make suggestions about how the stories should go. When the stories become true in real life, Skeeter tries to maneuver the stories into a direction which will make his dream come true, too.