Ethan Miles and his cousin Danielle are average middle grade kids until that Friday in October when they meet two visitors from Pluto. Turns out Plutonians have been living on Earth for centuries (which may explain my neighbor). Plutonians like to combine Earth inventions to make what they call re-inventions, everything from secret silver writing to an invisible jet. But here's the important thing: they can preserve minds. For years they've been filling little bottles with the preserved minds of the greatest humans in history. Now they can bring them out one at a time and give them a temporary body. That's what they do for Benjamin Franklin. They match him to a young person who could learn from him – that's Ethan - and give him three days to live in the modern world. That was the plan, but as Ethan and Danielle find out, great minds don't always go along with the plan. Franklin runs away to Paris with the science teacher and things get worse from there. There's a kidnapping, a secret lab, a fire and – well, let's just say that not all aliens are good guys.