In the nineteenth century, Ali the camel is separated from his mother in Egypt and sent to Texas, where he becomes part of the United States Camel Corps, but does not forget his longing for sand dunes and freedom.

In medieval Germany, fifteen-year-old Conrad, a court jester, and his beloved Christa, a servant girl, escape from a cruel master and journey through the countryside on a quest to find a kind lord who will give them sanctuary.

Having learned how to box while in prison, fifteen-year-old Johnny sets out to discover if he can make a d ecent living as a fighter in late nineteenth-century New York City.

When Northerner Thaddeus Lowe lands his huge balloon in South Carolina at the beginning of the Civil War, ten-year-old orphan Ridley Jones joins up withhim and the two set out to find a way to use Lowe's balloon to help the North.