Twenty-three-year old Peter Foster is an only child who lives at home, where he constantly hears his parents arguing. Because Peter does nothing all day, the family goes to a clinic where a therapist videotapes them. After Peter watches his tape, he views the tape of a troubled Armenian family, who gave their only son away for adoption when they arrived in Canada. Peter decides to visit this family, and he pretends to be their son, Bedros Deryan. The Deryan family welcomes him with open arms, and Peter tries to patch up the poor relationship between George Deryan and his daughter Azah.

Peter stows away on a ship from Italy, and arrives in New York, pursued by the ship's captain. He is advised that he will find other Italians in Little Italy, so he goes there, where Gepetto takes him in, after he attempts to steal some food. He tries to be good, but gets in trouble for stealing, so Jimmy the pizza man has to show him the way and get him to school. He thinks he isn't important, so he tells tall tales, scratching his nose each time. He tells people that Gepetto is a big important politician, so people automatically want to support him, though Gepetto is not running for anything.

Every day is boring and the same to Amy, even her birthday. All the evidence her family puts forth that each day is different she rebuts with well-thought out responses of sameness. She is supposed to visit her Aunt Lucy to pick up her present from her, and instead meets weird characters who insist that her aunt has a beagle named Charlie and that she has turned into a butterfly. Eventually she encounters fairytale folk who thought their lives were normal before the events in their stories occurred.

A television station is held hostage as a distraught father tries to bargain with a Carribean government for the release of his imprisoned daughter