During the Depression, eleven-year-old Carrie makes her annual summer visit to her relatives in the Blue Ridge Mountains and watches her determined grandfather fight against the government's attempt to take his farm land for a new national park.

Great-grandfather has witnessed so much change in his life. When he was a boy the horse and buggy was the mode of transportation. He has lived to see aviation progress from a few barnstorming pilots hop-scotching across the country to jet aircraft thundering across the sky. And he was sitting there that day, in front of the television, when men walked on the moon. All the years and hard work have taken their toll but when he is seated in his favorite rocking chair, great-grandchildren scattered at his feet, his eyes sparkle as lively as they must have in his youth. He exuberantly recounts the past, painting vivid pictures of his life on the western frontier as a pioneer, miner, freighter, stage driver, Indian fighter, trapper, homesteader, logger, buckaroo .... The story over, he waits, and then a small voice implores, 'Grandpa, tell us another story, please.' Grandpa grins, 'Well, all right. Once a long, looong, looooong time ago....'

The children are talking about their grandpas. Giraffe’s grandpa can build a skyscraper. Elephant’s grandpa can cook a massive feast. But whose grandpa will give the children the biggest surprise?