When the evil Mrs. Stricker threatens to send Junior, Rafe Khatchadorian's dog, back to the pound, Junior and Rafe go to obedience school to learn how to follow the rules.

The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Captain Ahab's determination to find and kill the great white whale becomes an obession driving him to disaster.