Charlie Dumont, age 12, has lost his parents and is living with relatives on a farm in East Texas. They banished him to the tool shed where he sleeps and spends his days, Charlie is a geek, too small to play football, but a whiz at math and science bordering on genius. He spends his time inventing stuff.


Marvin Smith, a navy helicopter pilot, gave up his career in the navy in order to marry his high school sweetheart. Only when he gets home, he finds she is engaged to another man. When he runs out of gas in front of Charlie's shed. Charlie offers to give him enough fuel to get home. It was not gasoline, but a fuel Charlie invented. He calls it Triple Stuff.


Together with a mechanic, they set out to fly a beat-up old helicopter, the Glutch, around the world to prove the value of Triple stuff as a replacement for fossil fuels. They would be the first to fly a helicopter around the world. American Rotors, has just come out with their latest helicopter, Kamara, superior to any helicopter on the market. They are determined to be the first to circle the globe in it. They challenge the Glutch crew to a world-circling race.