Lou Buck, ex-cop, is the off-center main character (like Nick Carraway to Jay Gatsby). Lou searches for his kidnapped daughter, Lacey, and in Reno meets a muscular bald man, Phane, who claims to be extraterrestrial. Lou thinks he's a nut until the man transforms into a large green tennis ball with arms, legs, and eyestalks. Phane was abandoned by his commander to die on Earth, but he and Lou team up and rescue Lou's daughter from an alien encampment in the desert. Another alien, Flooma, escapes the compound with them. Despite inter-species weirdness, Lou and Lacey become friends with Phane and Flooma. Trust develops among the friends, but how far would you go to help a dying alien species when their commander wants to take over the planet?