A whimsical yet serious-minded look into the future sponsored by the appliance and radio manufacturer Philco-Ford. In the "1999 House of Tomorrow", each family member's activities are enabled by a central computer and revolve around products remarkably similar to those made by the sponsor. Power comes from a self-contained fuel cell which supports environmental controls, an automatic cooking system, and a computer-assisted "education room".

Chester Cricket gets trapped inside a picnic basket and transported from his home in Connecticut to the middle of New York City. Alone and lost, he meets up with Harry and Tucker, a cat and mouse that have somehow become friends, and with Mario, a young boy who works with his father at a Times Square newsstand. When it's discovered that Chester can play songs he hears from the radio just by rubbing his legs, people begin to come from all around to listen. Though Chester is happy with his new-found friends, he will eventually have to say good-bye and return to his home.

A young American soldier, rendered in pseudocoma from an artillery shell from WWI, recalls his life leading up to that point.