Jeremy Longtail's life is about to change. He is a gerbil who lives with a little girl named Carrie, who loses interest in him and leaves him alone too often. In his free time, he watches the "glowing box" that teaches him things about reading and about a faraway place called Mongolia, where his ancestors came from. Although he has no idea where Mongolia is, he is determined to find that place where gerbils still live in the wild and to make his home there. When Carrie moves to California, he is taken to a pet shop. Thanks to a frightened rabbit, Jeremy escapes from the pet shop, along with his new friend, Little, another gerbil. They first build a burrow in the park but come upon many dangers, including cats, dogs, and hungry rats. The real journey begins when Jeremy and Little end up in a mailbag! Follow Jeremy Longtail as he makes his way through adventures and misadventures, meets friends and enemies along the way, and learns about the many kinds of humans that shape the world around him-but will he ever make it to Mongolia?