A small seedling pine wants very much to grow tall enough to become a real Christmas tree, but while she waits, she learns to appreciate the world around her and the value of being her very best right where she is planted.
Every winter, a small fir tree is dug up and brought to a farmhouse to be a Christmas tree for a lame boy and every spring it is replanted in the forest.
Ruthie and her mother wonder how they will fulfill their obligation of getting the perfect Christmas tree to the town for the holiday celebration, since Papa has left the Appalachian area to go to war.
President Theodore Roosevelt does not approve of cutting down living trees just to be used as Christmas decorations, but his two young sons try to sneak one into the White House anyway.
