Mole is happy and fulfilled by his simple life and limited possessions ("one bed, one pillow, one shelf for books, one cup for tea") till a friend "who has everything" persuades him that he doesn't have nearly enough. And so he sets out on a journey of acquisition, tunneling under and popping up in swamps and forests, in caves, junkyards, and underwater, and always managing to find another thing that he absolutely must have. Once he has everything, it must be transported back and stuffed into his small home. Having so much to attend to, and dust, and fix and, fidget with leaves no time to do the things he really likes, so Mole decides that maybe he already had everything he wanted, and not a thing more than he needed. After a grand giveaway, Mole pares his life down to just those things that make him happy and fulfilled.