A few days later Satsuki started school. While Satsuki was off at school, Mei would explore their yard. While picking flowers alone, Mei spotted a little totoro, Chibi Totoro, gathering acorns. Chibi Totoro tried hiding, but then made a run for the woods with a slightly larger totoro, Chu Totoro. Mei followed the mischievous totoros into a hollow camphor tree where she saw the largest totoro, Totoro. Waking up in the middle of some brush, Mei went home with Satsuki and her dad.
The next day, Mei went to school with Satsuki. It started raining, and when they got home they realized that their dad had forgotten his umbrella. Satsuki and Mei went to the bus stop with their dad's umbrella to wait for him. At the bus stop, Satsuki met Totoro for the first time. Satsuki gave Totoro her dad's umbrella, and Totoro gave Satsuki some magical acorns and seeds in gratitude. After Totoro left in Catbus (Nekobasu in Japanese) their dad's bus arrived.
Late one night, after the seeds had been planted, in a mystical dream-like sequence, Satsuki, Mei, and the three totoros helped the seeds grow into a giant camphor tree. By the morning the seeds had sprouted.
News came from the hospital one day that their mom's condition had gotten worse and that she would not be coming home until the next weekend. Mei ran off to the hospital some three hours from their village to see her mom. After a long search for Mei by the villagers, Satsuki turned to Totoro for help. Totoro summoned Catbus who would take Satsuki to Mei, and both Satsuki and Mei to their mom's hospital.
All ended in a happy spirit, with Satsuki and Mei seeing their mom healthy and well spirited.