A young boy waits with both excitement and apprehension for his father to disembark from the aircraft carrier returning to port after many months at sea.
Frog invites Chameleon to his annual fall party despite his friends' protests, is embarrassed to learn that he is watched when he dances, and is captured by a girl who wants to turn him into a prince.
Frog and his friends are alarmed by a strange object that appears on his pond, share a thoughtful--if scratchy--gift, and meet a hippopotamus that has run away from the zoo.
A boy and his father come from far away to visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington and find the name of the boy's grandfather, who was killed in the conflict.
Feeling unloved by his mother and new stepfather, Andy hides out in a luxurious San Francisco hotel and stages his own kidnapping in order to obtain ransom money to pay for a trip to England to see his father.