Beaver's friends insist on baking him a birthday cake, but Beaver, the ultimate perfectionist, would rather do it himself, and in doing so realizes perfection does not necessarily mean perfect.

"Today, Amik is expecting her beaver cousins for a special visit, and she can't wait to show them her home. But as the visitors arrive, Amik suddenly realizes that her little sister, Nishiime, has disappeared. Where could she have gone? As Amik shows her cousins some of her favorite haunts, the reader also learns how beavers help all the other animals in the forest: they cut down poplar trees so deer have easier access to the leaves, they create canals...