While a little fun is essential for a happy life, wise individuals know that prosperity begins with hard work. Gary and the other grasshoppers want to play all day, and they cannot understand why the ants work so hard and miss all the fun. Alex and the ants know they must work during the spring to have food for the winter.

City Mouse turns up his nose at the Country Mouse’s simple home and plain food. Back at his house in the city, he treats his country cousin to a soft bed, beautiful gardens, and a buffet of delicious things to eat. Country Mouse is greatly impressed with City Mouse’s riches until he meets a cat and nearly loses his life in a mousetrap.

Tombo the tadpole declares himself King of the Pond. He brags that he’s the biggest, the fastest, and the strongest tadpole, and he teases and chases all the other tadpoles. But one day while showing off doing a triple flip, Tombo’s life takes a major turn. He’s captured by a boy and taken from his lush pond to a fish tank. There Tombo is fed dry fish flakes, a food he despises.

Christopher has great dreams of becoming an inventor, but he dislikes anything requiring work. When Christopher’s friend and mentor, Dr. Finkle, invents a time remote, his dreams come true! He gets the time remote and avoids all unpleasant activities like math tests and eating vegetables. Who needs to do homework and eat right? Let’s just eat dessert and play!