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.

Unlike the other Birthmothers in her utopian community, teenaged Claire forms an attachment to her baby, feeling a great loss when he is taken to the Nurturing Center to be adopted by a family unit.

When Bunny gets lost and cannot find his mother, he fears that Mummy and his friends may not be able to find him and take him home.

Bored and frustrated, Llama Llama moves steadily toward a tantrum during a trip with Mama to the grocery store, and Mama realizes there must be a way to make shopping more fun.

Little Brownmouse and her mother laugh and play all day long.

A little rabbit enjoys having a day off from kindergarten and spending time with his mother during a snowstorm, but his father's flight home is cancelled until the snow stops falling.

When Mrs. Bear and little Sam deliver the cakes they have made for their friends in the neighborhood, Sam carries the cakes all by himself, through the snow and up to the front doors.

A small spoon, feeling rather envious of fork, knife, and chopsticks, gets a lot to think about when his mother reminds him of all the things he can do that they cannot.

On Christmas Eve, a little boy is beset with worries about what could go wrong on Santa's trip, but his mother reassures him with very imaginative solutions.

Depicts a number of animal babies sleeping as a mother puts her own baby to bed.