Humanity, from the point of view of other inhabitants of space, is hopelessly behind the times. It’s no joke - the Council of our Sector of the Galaxy, in which representatives of forty-three races sit more or less peacefully, even doubts whether it is worth granting earthlings the status of “weakly civilized”, or even recognizing them as animals. What representative of humanity would silently endure such humiliation! And so a married couple, diplomat Tom Parent and his wife Lucy, set off for the joyful intergalactic spaces. Their goal is to lay down their lives, but to defend the Earth’s right to bear the proud title of “weakly civilized planet”...