When Victor's parents go away for two weeks, leaving his older sister in charge, he is glad when she takes off on a vacation of her own. Home alone, Victor can do anything he wants. He stays up late, eats his pizza with anchovies, visits the zoo, and enjoys his favourite TV news programme without interruption. It is while staying up late watching television that he discovers evidence of a secret community of intelligent lizards. In fact there seems to have been an invasion from outer space that went almost unnoticed! In the course of some detective work, he meets the Chicken Man, an eccentric with a hen in his hat who knows about these things. Together they visit the lizards in Thunderbolt City. In a compelling and often endearing account, Victor tells us the fantastic experiences of those two weeks, giving us a startling glimpse at our own lives as well.