In this contemporary story, Max lives with his mother, Sally, at a private school in Havemyer, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. Groomed by his mother for the elite social ranks of the Fortnum School—which he will enter in the fall as a seventh-grader—Max reluctantly leaves the comfortable confines of Pennsylvania for a month's stay with his father. He meets Woody in Smilax, Texas, where Ahmed, the camel, is appearing at summer school fairs. Woody lives in a tiny trailer in the transient section of a trailer park. From there, father and son drive with Ahmed to Dallas for a convention job, and then on to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the Tulsa State Fair. After a gig outside of Denver, Colorado, they head for Las Vegas, where Max meets his godmother and stays in her hotel penthouse.