The story opens with the children's grandfather, D.J. Mulrooney (Walter Brennan), a well-known executive officer of a timber-trading company. D.J. is going to Seattle to sell 50,000 acres of timberland and takes his customized 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II on the trip. In a brief conversation with his company's head of security, Ralph Yarby (Richard Deacon), we learn that the car was purchased after D.J. earned his first million dollars. His first stop is the airport, where he picks up his grandchildren Elizabeth (Karen Dotrice) and Rodney (Matthew Garber), who are to accompany D.J. on his trip to Seattle.