Shoe deals with the day-to-day foibles of a group of newspaper employees and their families, all of whom are portrayed as anthropomorphized birds, in the fictional locale of Treetops, East Virginia.

He is always seen wearing a tweed blazer and striped necktie, and his trademark desk is always overflowing with a very tall stack of papers, extending beyond the frame.

A recurring gag has him repeatedly attend Marine recruit training by mistake during the summer, then write a series of letters to Uncle Cosmo.

[citation needed] A mail and newspaper carrier whose aeronautic skills are the subject of recurring jokes, based on former Vietnam POW Navy pilot Paul Galanti.

[citation needed] The "Merlin of motherboards," he appears as a wizard in a pointed hat and star-covered robe, carrying a magic wand.