Helen and Martha are on their front steps, when T.D. arrives, with his hair standing up and a bit hard-of-hearing. He claims that he made a sonic boom in his attempts to build the first model plane to break the sound barrier. Truman arrives, sad because the news has revealed that a camp called Camp Winnetka is closing.
This confuses Helen, since Truman is spending summer with his grandparents and not at camp, but Truman reveals that he's worried about Milo, who planned on going to camp and has been excited for it since Christmas. Helen says that Truman must tell Milo, but Truman doesn't want Milo to have another disappointment after his favourite flavour of ice cream was discontinued. He then gets an idea: make a new camp, but make it unpleasant to put Milo off going to camp.
Truman then starts up "Camp Truman" with Helen, Martha, Milo, and T.D. and claims that camps are tiring. Truman starts with the "camp" stuff: first he has everyone clean the driveway hoping it'll tire Milo out, but Milo not only doesn't get tired, he doesn't even get bored since he and T.D. have made a game out of punting pinecones into the trash. Truman tells T.D. to stop entertaining Milo, then moves onto the next "activity".
He has his human friends wash the dishes, but Milo isn't unhappy or tired. In fact, he's goofing around making a fake beard with the soap bubbles. T.D. joins in and makes a fake moustache and a giant bubble, then they start a "bubble fight". Truman ends "kitchen patrol", and again tells T.D. to stop making things fun, but T.D. says he can't help it.
Next, Truman makes his friends forage for snacks and declares he needs to approve them with a book. His intention is to make Milo hangry, but he succeeds in finding blueberries, dandelion leaves, and nasturtium petals. Truman looks them up, but none of them are poisonous, so Milo leaves, happily eating. Helen points out that the plan isn't working, but Truman isn't ready to give in.
He makes his friends "hike" down the street with bags of rocks, and while he, T.D., and Helen get out of breath, Milo does not. He explains that he's become strong as a result of walking home from school with a heavy backpack full of books, and in fact, the "hike" is making him nostalgic.
Truman then has his friends "swim" in a wading pool and disallows many things, including nose-scratching and wearing yellow. However, Milo manages to enjoy himself anyway, and Helen decides that things have "gone far enough". She and T.D. want to go home, but Truman has another idea: if he can't bore Milo or tire him out, he might be able to scare him instead.
That night, the group airs marshmallows out (since Truman isn't allowed to use matches so they can't roast them) and Truman decides to scare Milo with scary stories. However, Truman becomes too scared to finish his own story and declares that "camp" is over. Truman says that he understands if Milo is put off Camp Winnetka, but Milo says that he enjoyed himself. Helen then says, "You have to tell him" to Truman, which confuses Milo, and Truman fesses up. He shows the paper that says, "Camp Winnetka closes his doors", but Milo points out that that's only half of the paper. He reveals that he used the other half to make a fake pirate hat, and when Helen straightens it out, she reveals that the rest of the headline reads, "...and reopens at a new facility."
Six days later, Milo returns from camp, and reveals that he enjoyed himself, but missed his friends. He wants to have "Camp Truman" every day for the rest of the summer, but the other kids aren't keen. Martha, however, stays and has fun with Milo.
This episode provides examples of
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: Truman says, "You'll be prepared for..." and then Milo yells, "Camp Winnetka!".
- Author Phobia: In-Universe. Truman becomes too scared of his own story to finish it.
- Bright Is Not Good: Discussed by Truman, who points out that many plants are colourful but deadly.
- Collective Death Glare: Helen, T.D., and Martha all glare at Truman for what he did at the end of the episode.
- Fantasy Sequence: When Truman worries about what two pieces of bad news could do to Milo, he imagines him permanently losing his ability to feel joy.
- Flashback:
- When Truman says that Milo has been excited for camp since Christmas, we see Milo the previous Christmas.
- When Truman remembers playing pirate with half of the newspaper, we see it.
- Foreshadowing: The reveal that Camp Winnetka isn't really closing is foreshadowed by the newspaper being torn in half and by T.D. pointing out that they didn't call Terrence (Milo's father) to say that they were closing.
- Fungi Are Plants: Truman's book is supposedly a guide to edible plants, but some of the illustrations are clearly mushrooms.
- Ghost Story: Exploited. Truman tries to scare Milo out of going to camp by telling scary stories and claiming they're a big part of it.
- Goths Have It Hard: In Truman's imagining of Milo as unable to feel joy, he wears all black and paints frowny faces.
- Improvised Clothes: Truman uses half of the newspaper as a pirate hat.
- Irony: Not only did Truman fail at tiring Milo out with the "hike" and scaring him with the story, he did both to himself.
- Joke and Receive: Upon seeing T.D.'s hair standing up, Helen says, "You look like you just got blasted by a sonic boom!" He responds, "Sorry, I can't hear — I just got blasted by a sonic boom!".
- The Killjoy: Invoked when Truman deliberately tries to keep Milo from having fun so that he'll think camps are boring and/or gruelling.
- Mondegreen Gag: Due to going half-deaf from the sonic boom, T.D. mishears "I know what an activity is" as "Do you want toast?" and "Good point" as "I want a coffee pot".
- No Animals Allowed: One of the things Truman bans from the pool is dogs.
- Only Sane Man: Or in this case, girl — Helen is the only one who objects to Truman's plan.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Not only did Truman's attempts to bore and/or wear out Milo fail, but Camp Winnetka wasn't even closing to begin with.
- Signs of Disrepair: The full headline was "Camp Winnetka closes its doors and reopens at a new facility", but because part of it was torn off, Truman only read, "Camp Winnetka closes its doors".
- Speak in Unison: When Truman asks if T.D. was doing another experiment (to explain why he's half-deaf), Helen and
- Tough Love: Truman's intent is to make Milo unhappy to put him off going to camp, but as a result, ultimately save him disappointed.
