When June goes on a trip to visit her sister, Peggy, June's Aunt Martha steps in and stays with Ward and the boys. Ward and the boys do their best not to hurt Martha's feelings, but Beaver has the hardest time when she buys him a suit, knee socks, a cap, and short pants and makes him wear the outfit to school.

After a week long visit with their Aunt Martha, Wally and Beaver prepare to head home to Mayfield on a train. After talking Martha into letting them buy their own tickets, they discover they're short the money after spending it on junk food and find themselves wondering how they are going to get home.

Beaver and Wally are all excited about going to the carnival, however, Aunt Martha throws a wrench in their plans when she makes an unexpected visit with a friend of hers, forcing Wally and Beaver to count the hours away, hoping she will leave soon enough so they can still go to the carnival.

Beaver buys a common magic trick but is disappointed by everyone's ""that's nice"" reaction, but he gets a totally different reaction out of Bengie when Larry and Beaver convince him that Beaver has been turned into a rock.

June and Ward are excited when they learn that Aunt Martha has made arrangements to send Beaver to a prep school in New England. However, Beaver quickly realizes he will miss his friends as they are all entering Mayfield High School next year. This puts Beaver in a delicate position, how to tell Aunt Martha he doesn't want to go without hurting her feelings.