Alice wants desperately to get out of practicing her piano so she can go have fun with her friends. She tricks her mother into thinking she's still playing by getting her dog to play for her, and then she and the gang hitch a ride to the local pond where they spend their time fishing. While there, she envisions what it would be like to go fishing at the North Pole.

The tenements are home to an international community, including the friends and family of a tough young ragamuffin named Annie Rooney, but their neighborhood may be threatened by a dangerous street gang.