A boy moves from a city apartment to live with his mother in a small house in the country. He has lived his whole life in the city, and so he misses his friends, his school and his home. He is nervous about the back yard with its overgrown trees, brambly bushes, and a cow pasture beyond. He prefers to stay inside reading comics until one night, a host of fireflies — or are they fairies? — takes him on a magical adventure.