A cat raises a squirrel as her own after a fire tears them apart, and the whole show is about a small animal trying to find his way home to someone who will never stop looking for him. The weight of that separation sits on every frame. This is a quiet 1979 series that understands loss the way only stories about animals can, with no sentimentality to hide behind, just a kid alone in the world and the mother who taught him what family means.

Based on the stories of Ernest Thompson Seton, this TV series starts with a young squirrel who arrives at a farm soon after birth and is captured by a human who means to feed him to the pet cat. The cat takes pity on him instead, adopts him as her own child and names him Banner. The two live happily on the farm until a fire destroys it. Separated from his adoptive mother, Banner has to escape into the forest, where he meets the creatures who live there and faces a string of adventures and hardships.