The first ice is a skim of ice so thin that it will break when touched. Ellen and her dad rejoice at seeing the ice and then gently break it.

Second ice is thicker, and Ellen and her dad pick up sheets of ice. They hold it up and look at it before smashing the ice on the ground. The third ice gets thicker so that they can’t break it. Ellen and her dad are excited because this means that it’s almost time to ice skate!

Ellen goes to sleep and can feel the next ice coming – field ice. At school she has trouble focusing because she’s thinking about the ice. On the bus on the way home, she sees the field ice on her neighbor’s field. Once home, she gets her ice skates on and runs to skate on the field. She falls after some time as she is a little rusty.

The next ice to come is stream ice. Ellen’s dad takes her to the stream where they fished for trout in the spring. They skate down the stream and stop to lie down on their stomachs to watch the water life. They skate until it’s time to go home.

Black ice is water shocked still by the cold before the snow. Dad and Ellen drive to the Great Pond to skate. Ellen is a little scared but in a good way. She sings about there being a monster in the water and gets worked up. Her dad skates to her and gives her a hug to calm her down. Once she’s calm, they skate all over the pond.

After the first snow comes, it’s time for garden ice. Dad and Ellen work to get their garden ready to become their skating rink. They rake the ground to make it level then bring wooden planks to create the perimeter. They sit and wait for the snow. Ellen is impatient, but Dad sings to her and explains that “the things that last are things that someone waited for, not things that happened fast.”

It begins to snow, and Ellen and Dad begin to make the garden ice. First they pack the snow down by stomping on it. Dad then pulls Ellen back and forth on a sled over the snow. Then Ellen runs into the house to get the hose. Dad tells Ellen to turn on the faucet. Dad sprays water on the snow while Ellen continues to stomp and pack the snow. They do this for several days until it’s ready. They call their ice rink Bryan Gardens.

They have a skating party where the students from the nearby college attend. Ellen shows off her skating skills and dreams about how good she’ll be when she’s as old as the college students. Dad posts the rules of the rink. Ellen gets mad when the hockey skaters break one of the rules by not taking turns with the figure skaters. She sings about how she loves the rules, but when her dad asks her to sweep the ice, she refuses. She starts to question the rules.

There’s a thaw, and it’s raining. Dad comes out with an umbrella, and Ellen just stands staring at the ice rink. Dad tries to remain positive, but Ellen refuses to hear it. Her dad gets frustrated with her determination to be upset and yells at her. She asks him why he’s yelling, and he says that he’s upset. She says that he has to be the grown-up and keep it together. Dad sings about how he’s not perfect and that parents don’t always know what they’re doing.

The rain stops, and they begin to flood the ice rink again. Ellen does her homework inside and watches her dad flood the rink then do silly tricks on the ice. He does several silly tricks, and Ellen knocks on the window to ask for more. He finishes the rink and makes perfect ice. Ellen has one late-night skate, and then it’s time for the Ice Show!

Ellen invites someone from the audience to be the announcer. They come on stage, and Ellen whispers a line for them to say to the audience. Dad comes out and does his Clown Act.

When the Ice Show is over, Ellen and her Dad count the days that they were able to skate on the ice. They mark each day on a calendar.

The very end of the season is called the last ice. Ellen and Dad poke at muddy ice with sticks. Then, the ice is gone.

Ellen tells the audience that the story jumps ahead about 30 years when she heard that her dad had died. She is sad and doesn’t like the ending to this story. Her dad enters and reminds her that there is one more kind of ice – dream ice.

Ellen closes her eyes and imagines skating down roads, in and out of yards, over trees, etc. The best part of dream ice is that it never melted. This twelfth kind of ice is the most important because it stays with you when the others have gone away. They could skate on dream ice until the first ice came again. Ellen discovers that this is the perfect ending to her story.