The protagonist, Horace "Ace" Hobart, is a mischievous sixteen-year-old boy who has just finished his first year at Kennedy High and started summer vacation. Readers who met him in Ace Hits the Big Time will be familiar with Ace's ability to look at himself and his life objectively. He relates his reactions, feelings, and shortcomings in a humorous, light-hearted way.

In a typical misadventure, Ace travels, at his agent's suggestion, to the Garden Room at the Starlight Hotel to meet Myron Evans, the head of properties for Global Studios.

Ace daydreams about the exciting opportunities this meeting will unveil and the fancy restaurant he is heading for. Instead he finds the place run down and dirty, and he meets "Stab" Evans, a member of the Piranhas. Realizing Evans tricked him, Ace tries to avoid food poisoning by ordering hot tea and three hard-boiled eggs...