Ian Champion's mum and dad decide to have matching midlife crises, and he's suddenly home alone. Not for long though. He has been planning on a scholarship to Cambridge and a fairly straightforward path away from life in the western suburbs and his lump of a dog, Keith. But before he knows it, he's sent to stay with his relatives in Brompton-Under-Silt, South Yorkshire. And they are total aliens. If the world is going to end and we all need to start stockpiling instant noodles, as those who see into the future say, then maybe home's the only place to be. But where is home?