This story is about a ten year old boy called Joe who lives on a farm in Australia miles from anywhere. He is an ordinary intelligent boy, but is more troubled than most by some of the Big Questions in life, such as "why are we here?" and "why am I me and not someone else?." On the farm, months of drought are taking their toll on the sheep and his weary parents. Joe meets a stranger from another world called Oom who knows how to help them, but it is Joe who has to do the real work of convincing his father to try something new. And then Oom isn't visiting Earth to top up his tan His real reason for being here blows Joe's mind and will forever change his way of looking at the world and the human race. But that doesn't mean there is nothing Joe can do to help his alien friend.