To make three youngsters - Patty, Mickey and Liza Sue - abide by their rules, the grown-ups - parents, teachers and other adults - create a world inside a box, a world with toys, games, treats and gifts. But all Patty, Mickey and Liza Sue really want is the freedom to be themselves.

Here's what happens when parents, teachers, and other adults try to determine the boundaries of personal freedom for a group of youngsters, "who just can't handle their freedom." To make youngsters abide by their rules, the grown-ups create a world inside a box. A world with toys and games, and treats and gifts, and all kinds of stuff they think children need to be happy and carefree -- everything from a picture of the sky to jelly beans and brand new jeans. All Patty and Mickey and Liza Sue really want is the freedom to be themselves. But even confined inside a box, these clever children find their own ways to be free.