The series, set in Westport, Connecticut, depicts the real life and dream world of John Monroe, a cartoonist for "Manhattanite" magazine. Discontented with his job, suspicious of smart children and hostile animals, intimidated by his loving wife and precocious daughter, and scared to death of life, he retreats to his secret world of imagination. His cartoons become real, life becomes tolerable, and he is transformed into a person who is irresistible to women and a tower of strength in the eyes of men. Animation is combined with live action to present life as viewed by John Monroe. Based on the drawings and stories of humorist James Thurber.