Hubert loves to think. Not only does that distinguish him from his father, Gorp, and everyone else in ancient Sumeria, but it leads to the greatest invention of all time: the wheel. It takes a while for his neighbors to see Hubert's creation as a major technological advancement rather than a newfangled coffee-table top, but eventually they do, and life is great.

Well, life is great until the Sumerians' archenemies, the Assyrians, find out about the wheel and use it to plan their destruction. Now the question is not whether Hubert's invention is ahead of its time, but whether he should have stuck to designing living room furniture instead of threatening civilization's demise.