While a century's worth of readers has enjoyed the Oz series, it is not generally known that in Baum's fifth Oz book, Ozma teleported Dorothy and her uncle permanently to Oz. Nor is it known that Glinda moved Oz to a parallel world. In Gardner's wild novel, Dorothy and her faithful friends visit several towns in Oz - including Wonderland, a new Mount Olympus, and Ballville - before they arrive in New York's Central Park by way of a mathematical curiosity called a Klein Bottle.

The purpose of their visit to Earth is to publicize a new musical film about Oz. But plans go awry when two evil mobsters, hired by a wicked rival movie producer, try to kill Dorothy and her companions. In their desparate attempts to flee these villains, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman find themslves in a series of precarious predicaments across New York City.