A queer, kindly old man who champions thrift leaves a town that has embraced wasteful fashions and walks into a nearby forest, where he becomes a neighbor and teacher to its creatures. Through linked, episodic tales he encounters owls, bears, beavers, foxes, squirrels, birds, insects and children, and helps solve practical problems such as sickness, quarrels, and careless habits. Each episode combines gentle humor and domestic detail with clear lessons about saving, industry, helpfulness, and sensible living, showing how patient counsel and small acts of cooperation gradually restore order and well-being in the woodland community.