When Billy (Doug McKeon) returns home from World War II, he's embittered about the medical treatment that led to having part of his leg amputated after he was wounded in the Iwo Jima assault. His grandfather (Wilford Brimley), anticipating Billy's difficult transition back to civilian life, has bought a couple of redbone hound puppies for the young man--the same dogs he had as a boy, a story told in Where the Red Fern Grows. Billy resists at first but slowly bonds with the dogs, and when a young neighbor boy wants to learn how to hunt raccoons, Billy takes the boy under his wing. Meanwhile, Billy's closest friend and war buddy finds himself wooing Billy's sister Sarah, to Billy's discomfort. Where the Red Fern Grows II (or Part 2, as it's called in the credits) is a fairly straightforward and sentimental tale, but it keeps saccharine at bay by sticking with its characters and treating their lives with respect. Toward the end, when Billy and his grandpa go on a final raccoon hunt together, the movie may try a little too hard to recapture the sadness of the first film, but family audiences will appreciate its unpretentious and genuine tale of life lessons and small-town values. Dog fans in particular will enjoy the extensive montage of the dogs growing up and learning to hunt. --Bret Fetzer