It is a collection of three of Farmer's stories from the series Weird Heroes published in the 1970s with the title character, a lineal descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, working for the Acme Zeppelin Corporation as a blimp pilot and private detective.

Greatheart Silver, the thirty-year-old first mate on Acme Zeppelin 8, is the sole survivor of an attack by the Mad Fokker, an air pirate and World War I veteran who was mothballed by the United States government because it could not undo his mental conditioning.

Under the tutelage of Fenwick Phwombly (who describes himself, though is never identified, as the Shadow), Greatheart journeys to the town of Shootout, where many aging villains have gathered for a last great crime.

Two years later, Greatheart (named for the character in Pilgrim's Progress) is disguised as an employee of Acme W-W Cleaners and narrowly avoids averting a kidnapping.

Greatheart traces the kidnappers, despite the efforts of Micawber to trail him, to the Fokker D-LXIX Press building, specializers in erotica owned by Acme Zeppelin.