Tito befriends a new boy, Marco, who is deaf. Marco starts to teach Tito some American Sign Language, and they decide to do a project together for the school's "Contraption Convention." But when Tito makes some pronunciation mistakes in school, he decides he doesn't want to do the project anymore (since it involves public speaking). Only when he sees how Marco persists in getting across what he wants to say - even when people misunderstand him at first - does he realize the value of practice and determination, and decides to go ahead with the project.