After the death of their father, brother and sister Tommy (Luke Baird) and Becky (Gena Gale Burghoff) are sent to live with their aunt for the summer. The siblings' grief lightens when they meet kindly old Irishman Mr. Connors (M*A*S*H's Radar, Gary Burghoff), who reignites their capacity for joy and wonder.

Joe Roberts (Evan Schwalb) idolizes his older brother, Denny (Neil Schwalb), and Denny's college friends. But to the guys, Joe is a pesky nuisance whose Christian faith makes him strange, so Denny devises an elaborate prank to write a fake letter and send Joe on a wild goose chase to strike up a friendship with the richest man in America, the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes (Jeff Wise).