Ariyah, a seven-year-old girl, talks to an invisible someone in the backseat of the car while her dad drives. Ariyah asks if she can visit her friend Mr. Tummkins world. Her dad seems distracted by the time. Ariyah asks if her mom's going to be mad because her dad is bringing Ariyah home early. He says he doesn't know.
Dad arrives and the parents immediately start to argue. Ariyah goes inside the house. Poor Ariyah laments to her unseen friend that she hates seeing her parents fight. Suddenly the friend, Mr. Tummkins, becomes visible. He is a fantastical creature. He invites Ariyah to escape the arguing by going to his world. She happily agrees and the two go to Bubblyburg.
Ariyah and Mr. Tummkins arrive in the colorful world of Bubblyburg. Ariyah's amazed. Mr. Tummkins suggests they go to the town proper and meet the citizens. Ariyah whole-heartedly agrees.
On arriving at the town, they find things to be strange. No one's outside and the sky is red. The two of them eventually find two citizens, who yell at each other in a weird gibberish. Confused, the two go to see the mayor, Sparkles.
At city hall, they find a crowd of citizens, all yelling in different gibberish languages. The only one seemingly unaffected is mayor Sparkles. She realizes that Ariyah and Mr. Tummkins speak normally, so they confab about the situation. The mayor reveals the reason for the current situation: Dr. Blab, the mad scientist who live on top of Mt. Gummi, blasted the town with a Babbily Ray, confusing the languages. Mayor Sparkles asks Ariyah and Mr. Tummkins to go to Dr. Blab's lab and stop the machine.
The two climb Mt. Gummi and reach the lab. They enter the lab, which seems abandoned. They see a big, red button on the machine marked OFF. They almost turn the machine off, but Dr. Blab arrives and interrupts them. He chases them around his lab. Ariyah asks him why he used the ray. In a strange language, Dr. Blab tells Ariyah that the citizens shun him because they can't understand him. Ariyah stops running. She understands Dr. Blab.
Mr. Tummkins tells her to keep running, but Ariyah gets him to understand Dr. Blab, too. The secret is listening. Dr. Blab, heartened, turns off the machine.
The three of them return to Bubblyburg, where everyone speaks normal again. Ariyah reintroduces Dr. Blab. She helps the citizens learn to listen to Dr. Blab. Now they can understand him as well. The citizens apologize for shunning Dr. Blab. Dr. Blab apologizes for the Babbily Ray. The citizens throw a parade in Ariyah's honor.
After the parade, Ariyah decides she needs to go home. Mr. Tummkins pats her head and sends her home. Back home, Ariyah pleads for her parents to listen to one another. The parents realize that their fighting affects their daughter. They listen to each other and resolve the argument. Ariyah and her mom go inside for ice cream.