Alexander is back and he is absolutely determined that he is not going to move 1000 miles away from his friends and the neighborhood he knows so well. He has some ideas about just who might take him in since his parents are determined to go ahead with this moving thing. Gradually, the possibility of a dog and some long distance phone calls back to his friends begin to bring him around. The wonder of the story is the whole spectrum of feelings that Alexander goes through. Any child, moving or not, would understand exactly how Alexander feels and would be curious to see how he's going to handle this challenge.