A multitalented H-bomb physicist, Hruodopergus Hluodowigus Storm, moves his family from warm, left-wing Myotopia to cold, right-wing Eedahow, or, as the ancient tribal exclamation has it, "See sun go down mountain " Hru's 11 year-old son, Ben, is one of 34 sixth-grade children, all "geniuses," milked in day-jail by Richard (Devil) Jaxuch Koprokopf, a devilish rancher. Benedictus is destined to condemnation, whereas Devil is redeemed. Removed from his post by inquisition, Devil is sent to a sanatorium; 6 sick postdocs write him a thesis that wins his release. The real release comes when Devil, transformed into Lord Sir Kay Sergei Illuministico, tutors 5 teens in the privacy of seclusion, in a wilderness schoolhouse looming high above Lava.