Due to his family's donations Saskatchewan Indianapolis Smithe (Polie to friends and foes), is an honorary curator of the Thyemaster Museum of Science and Man-made Arts where he often accidentally causes chaos. Polie learns of, tracks down, and interacts with three ceramic shards that together form a sphere of possibly extraterrestrial origin. He acquires one piece with material he purchases at auction that might include items the museum could exhibit. By weird logic he locates the two other pieces and obtains them by daring and strange moves. He acquires the second piece from the ceramic collection of an art museum that is discarding it as having no value, then he steals the third from a lab doing secret Army research where it is about to be destroyed to test its unusual properties. Eventually Polie is pursued by the Army, the tycoon who has been trying to beat him to the pieces, and the local police. As these groups close in, Polie learns how to activate the Orb - which produces amazing effects before it alters itself in a way that makes it more of a mystery but less obviously useful to the others seeking it. Only Polie and his two close his museum associates and helpers Barmes and Nogle know where the pieces end up.