A farmer and his family save their farm by using a popcorn machine, frozen sunlight, and jumping beans.

After leaving their rocky Connecticut farm to seek their fortunes in the West, Josh McBroom, his wife Melissa, and their eleven redheaded children stop in Iowa where they become the owners of a small but very unusual piece of property.

When a great drought on the prairie causes cows to give powdered milk and mosquitoes to grow almost as large as small cowsheds, McBroom comes up with a novel idea for producing rain.