To the surprise of many, the little country cottontail becomes one of the special Easter bunnies even though she has twenty-one children of her very own.
When Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, Mary Ann, lose their jobs to the gasoline, electric, and diesel motor shovels, they go to a little country town where they find that one new job leads to another.
Each of the animals tells the hippopotamus she looks ridiculous for a different reason; but after a frightening dream, she is proud to be just what she is.