Molag, the narrator, speaks to the audience about fire and brings them back in time to tell the story of its invention ("We Are People Now").

In this time, a prolonged intellectual disagreement known as The Great Debate between Smelly-Balls and Chorn is causing chaos in a small tribe of early Homo sapiens.

Zazzalil and her crony Keeri find Jemilla in her moment of desperation and present an idea to start eating squirrels, instead of their current food staples of nuts and berries.

After watching a performance of the single joke in the repertoire of the inventor of comedy, Jemilla's wife Schwoopsie, Tiblyn, and Emberly come upon an intruder named Grunt.

Though scared at first, Emberly stops Grunt from eating a poisonous berry and gives him a sandwich she invented ("Just a Taste").

Jemilla then decides to reveal what Molag taught her, that the duck is not a god and Tiblyn's holding her arms towards the sky is not preventing it from falling.

The supreme wizard Ducker claims Jemilla is just a heretic, but is proven wrong when Tiblyn drops her arms, and nothing happens.

While the rest of the tribe continues to struggle with a seemingly godless world, Zazzalil leaves the cave to kill Trunkell and prove that the spear does work ("Into the Night").

The tribe is amazed by the new invention, which Chorn calls fire, and Zazzalil uses their new respect for her to convince them to banish Jemilla.

The tribe, now led by Zazzalil, marvel over how fire has improved their lives – they have moved out of the cave and kill mammoths so that they no longer go hungry ("Climate Change").

Zazzalil begs her to return, admitting that she is a better leader, but Jemilla refuses as in this new tribe she has many attractive husbands and wives ('played by' the audience) and two children.

When Emberly's plan to wave the painting at him doesn't work, Jemilla and Zazzalil attempt to stab Snarl through the eyes with their spears.

It was charged with testing humanity and declares the lightning bolt that hit Zazzalil's spear to make the first fire was actually a photon beam from its ship.

It then gives the whole tribe its vast alien knowledge including the future of all humanity ("Chorn"), sending them into spasms.

Nina Metz of the Chicago Tribune is also positive in this aspect: "The women are in charge here, but you will find nothing so obvious as a girl power anthem in the score.

"[7] Christopher Kidder-Mostrom of Theatre by Numbers gives a positive review, praising the show as a "tightly scripted piece" with "solid melodies, harmonies, and even clever rhyme schemes.