The group gathers for the holidays. Ben doesn't understand because Jody's Jewish she celebrates Hanukkah and not Christmas. Leon hunts for candles before he can tell about Kwanzaa.
Kiki tries to use her gardening skills to trim the greenhouse's largest tree on her own. But it goes badly, and her attempts to fix it lead to more trouble. Sizzle tries to ride a motorcycle alone but keeps crashing.
Julie gets to the Puzzle Place early. With none of the other kids around, she's invited to spend time with the Place Police, though she can't understand most of their language and doesn't know their games or activities.
Kiki's Spanish-speaking cousin Maggie visits, but arrives while Kiki is at the store. Julie speaks some Spanish, but none that will help, and the others don't. They try to figure out how to understand Maggie.
Nuzzle takes Julie's favorite doll Susie. After Leon starts a search for her, Kiki, he, and Jody let her borrow their dolls and learn about different kinds.
Leon knows his brother broke a lamp but also that telling their parents will get him in trouble. He considers running away so he won't have to worry about keeping the secret.
Ben shows Leon, Kiki, and Julie a Norwegian folk dance in costume. But he overhears them mocking it since it's not from anything they've seen. He shows them that just about anything, even ones they like, can be "strange" to others.
Jody brings her pet cricket Davy to the Puzzle Place campout, but he has just died. Leon, Julie, and Kiki hold a funeral for him .and try to cheer Jody up. They discuss different rites of death and have their own.
Jody's and her dad's habit of going for ice cream after her tee-ball games is interrupted when his girlfriend takes them somewhere new. She's troubled that her dad didn't seem to notice and worried he loves his girlfriend more.
Kiki has to leave the fire truck set briefly, so Julie plays with it. Each insists it is her turn, and Leon and Skye can't convince them to share. Skye asks his uncle, a councilor, for advice, and he suggests they invent a new rule.
Tired of being told he isn't old enough for things, Leon desires adulthood since he thinks it means control and fearlessness. Hearing about some rites of passage from the others, he has them create one to make him stop being a kid.