The opening scenes of the novel evoke an endearing picture of Centerville, a rural Midwestern community with its uncomplicated way of life, its traditional value system based on the family, and its mutually supportive townsfolk.

Told in the episodic style of the adventure novel, the action proceeds rapidly from Kip's home in Centerville to the Moon and then to Pluto, Vega V—the home of the Mother Thing—and eventually to the capital of the Three Galaxies in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud.