In a typical small town, to a seemingly ordinary young boy, a most extraordinary thing occurs for a profoundly important reason when Peter Frye becomes The Boy With Green Hair. Peter (Dean Stockwell) has been living with his grandfather (Pat O'Brien), but while studying war orphans at his school, he discovers that his own parents were killed in World War II. The next morning, Peter's hair has changed color to green out of shock. Although ridiculed by his classmates and by the local townspeople, and encouraged by his grandfather to keep his green hair secret, Peter realizes there is a reason for the change: He will use his difference to speak up for all the children of the world orphaned by war and speak out against fighting any more wars.