Three boys rent a canoe in Iowa and spend the day riding down a river. As the long and strenuous journey stretches into the night, their friendship, trust, and determination are tested.

A self-willed young girl embarks on a train ride to a coastal town for a day, encountering eccentric people along the way.

A group of people at a bar discuss their experiences with an eccentric and impulsive boy as they anticipate his arrival.

In a odd but enlightening encounter, three rural boys visit an eccentric Yale graduate's grocery store.

A four-year-old black boy vaguely recalls a mixture of occurrences that puzzled him, including a sentenced hanging in his town of a man who allegedly murdered his wife.