Newfangle is bottom of the tree; despised by his mother, savaged by alpha male Alf on a daily basis and ignored by Snaggle, his favourite female. But Newfangle is a hominid with big ideas.

Newfangle, aided by Crag, discovers that piles of mud can be shaped into shelters from the oppressive heat. These mudturtles, as Crag calls them, prove very popular with the other hominids - so ...