Tommy, an 11-year-old boy from the country, comes to Manhattan to visit his aunt, who owns a many antiques. Tommy,attracted to a Chinese boat made of carved ivory with a dragon head for a prow, sticks his finger in the dragon's mouth but cannot remove it. Fearing his aunt will be furious, he flees her apartment and wanders the streets of Manhattan with the antique stuck to his finger. Eventually, he ends up in Central Park where he meets a young girl (perhaps his first love) under a tree festooned with balloons. At the end of the day he returns to his aunt's building, worn and disheveled but with the antique still intact. The film closes with a surprise.