The Moody children, Eliot and Lucy, are devastated by the loss of their uncle Ronald in a road accident. Uncle Ronald, Professor Ronald Moody, had been a brilliant scientist engaged in hush hush research of some sort, and from him, the children inherit Mr Chip, a highly sophisticated robot developed by Ronald over many years. A disturbing train of events had preceded Ronald's death. A mysterious explosion at one of his laboratories had claimed the lives of two scientists, and a third was later found hanged in suspicious circumstances. Subsequent events seem to focus on the search for a special book, which went missing at the time of Ronald's death. Enigmatic new neighbour, Mrs Amelia Sultana, as well as larger-than-life Civil Servant, Sidney Biggs, wend their way through the story and are eventually revealed as key players in the drama. It is also clearly apparent early on, that evil International villains, Emil and Rufus Droitfeld, are implicated up to their eyeballs in dodgy, dastardly goings-on, but are they the brains behind the tortuous plot?