An adaptation of a Japanese folktale in which a feudal lord seeks a samurai cat to rid his castle of a savage rat, but soon discovers that violence is not always the best way to accomplish things.

Before Simon sails to America, he promises his family that he will get a job and send for them. Simon's mother knows he will need a miracle, so she reminds him to celebrate Hanukkah wherever he may be. Little does either of them know that Simon will spend the first night of Hanukkah on an ice floe after his ship sinks. The lone survivor out in the wide ocean, Simon lights the first candle, and it attracts a visitor: a polar bear. Stranded on an iceberg...