Xiang is young ginkgo tree growing in a backyard in New York's Greenwich Village. The yard has a big fence around it and Xiang can't see over it. All Xiang wants to do is grow so that he can see the human world the other, taller trees talk about. He knows he will eventually grow taller, but he wants to know when, and none of the other trees can tell him...except maybe Hermit, the oldest tree in the yard. Hermit, however, rarely talks to the other trees.