Bear goes to sleep for the winter when the geese fly south, just as his mother told him. When he wakes up in the spring he is confronted by a factory on his doorstep and is mistaken for a man, "just a silly man who wears a hairy coat and needs a shave." The man in the yellow hat tells him to get back to work The President takes him to a zoo and to a circus to find out if he is a bear or not, No-one believes him and he is set to work in the factory. When the geese fly south he leaves them all and sleeps for the winter. What a surprise he gets in the spring, nature has taken her revenge and all the factory buildings are broken with plants growing through the windows and the roof One day he sees another bear coming towards him on the other side of the river and he jumps in the water shouting " I am a bear, I am a bear, I always knew I was a bear." However the other bear turns out to be his Mum who is very cross with him because he didn't follow her instructions to meet her in the Far Beyond. She forgives him and he gives her a big bear hug. Finally they are seen disappearing over the horizon to find that wonderful place, The Far Beyond, where they .lived happily ever after.