In search of a habitable planet in the Alpha Centauri star system, an expedition of earthlings set off on their first space journey. The astronauts were lucky - the Emerald planet Smeralda really turned out to be inhabited. But were people ready for the reception that the Smeraldans gave them? And is it possible to be prepared when you come to visit someone unknown with the goal of moving into his house? The youngest members of the crew - four students of the Space Academy - had to experience all the delights of their first experience of communication with an extraterrestrial civilization.