Darryl Kirby is an orphan. He is also a whiz at computer games. But when Darryl plays a new version of his favorite game, StarMaster, strange things begin to happen.

A mysterious message -- "WANT TO PLAY?" -- invites him to play a new game in which the stakes are higher than they appear -- a game that eventually lands him in the luxurious Paradise Lab, where software guru Keith Masterly has enlisted a brain trust of children for a secret purpose of his own. With the help of his friend, Nina, Darryl slowly uncovers a sinister plan and finds himself the star in his own real-life computer game. But will he and Nina be able to stop Masterly and escape before it is too late?