Felix Funicello is a Catholic school fifth-grader in 1964, whose claim to fame is his cousin Annette Funicello, the famous Mouseketeer and teen movie queen. But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova. While Felix learns the meaning of French kissing, cultural misunderstanding, and tableaux vivants, Wishin' and Hopin' barrels toward one outrageous Christmas!

Kyle Cooke is a kind-hearted young boy and a gifted baseball player. When his father, Ted, is laid off and forced to take a low-level job in a new state just to make ends meet, Kyle and his family are uprooted from their comfortable suburban lifestyle. Ted hopes that Kyle's acclimation will be made easier once he gets involved with the local teams but those plans are quickly dashed when Kyle becomes the victim of bullying and nepotism. Realizing Kyle will never get a chance to pursue his dream of playing in the twelve-year-old World Series if he stays in the local league, Ted finagles a way to get Kyle on a team in an opposing district. Kyle, understanding this is his one and only shot, uses the dejection of being cut from his town's all-star team as motivation to become the best twelve year-old player in the state - possibly the world. Ultimately, he faces his former team in the state championship where he discovers a greatness he didn't even know he possessed.