Narrator Jack and his mother, who was kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student, celebrate his fifth birthday. They live in a tiny, 11-foot-square soundproofed cell in a converted shed in the kidnapper's yard. The sociopath, whom Jack has dubbed Old Nick, visits at night, grudgingly doling out food and supplies. But Ma, as Jack calls her, proves to be resilient and resourceful--and attempts a nail-biting escape.

As a child imagines becoming a tree, a house, a book, a teddy bear, and more, Mommy tells how she will continue to love and care for her "little one."

Even though doesn't like the cold snow, Hopper, a little hare, enjoys playing with a friend and the adventure of searching for food with his mother.

Little Fish has all sorts of fishy friends in his underwater home, but loves one of them most of all.

When her mother tucks her in for the night, Lulu the chicken worries what would happen if a bear or a tiger or an alligator should come in during the night.

A mother explains to her child all the ways her love remains even while she's away.

At bedtime, a mother tells her curious child about the things that fairies do, like hang the stars in the evening sky and care for the toys that children have lost.

Three owl babies whose mother has gone out in the night try to stay calm while she is gone.

A little mummy who wants to run away tells his mother how he will escape, but no matter what horrible creature he claims he will become or where he plans to go, she promises to be there with him.

Little Charlie the bear cub says he would do anything for his mother and proves it to her when bedtime arrives.