Roger, a young scientist, reacts with confusion when he observes that the star Pollux has moved by a tenth of a second, which should be impossible, as this is much faster than the speed of light. By the next morning, news is out that many major stars have begun to move within the past forty-eight hours. Astronomers nationwide struggle to figure out why this is happening. Roger tries to explain the phenomenon to Elsie, the girl he likes. He goes to a restaurant and hears the voice of Milton Hale, another prominent astronomer, on the radio, offering very little clarity. Roger goes to a movie theatre and watches as an ad for cookware tries to turn the situation into a marketing ploy. Frustrated, he stabs the movie screen and is arrested and thrown in jail. A schooner off the coast of California loses the ability to navigate; its crew members observe a number of stars forming an octagonal shape. A mysterious mist is beginning to settle over some parts of the nation. Across the country, Dr. Hale finishes his radio segment and goes to a bar. He does some work and calculates that the upcoming midnight will be a significant time, so he takes money from the safe of the university's president for a taxi, which he hires to take him to Boston. He arrives at a millionaire's--Rutherford R. Sniveley's--mansion, but the man himself is supposedly absent. He is an inventor of gadgets. Dr. Hale asks the driver to take him to the White House, but the driver falls asleep and Dr. Hale has to get a ride to the airport. He steps off his flight and realizes that he is at the White House Hotel in Seattle and has missed the deadline of midnight by a few hours. At midnight, the stars converge to spell out a message: Buy Sniveley's Soap, but the name is misspelled. Sniveley, angry, accidentally falls off the balcony of his house and dies. It is revealed that Sniveley created a device to refract the images of stars to make it appear that they have moved to spell out a message, though the stars actually have not moved whatsoever. The President orders for the device to be destroyed. Hale permanently moves to Seattle, and Roger gets out of jail and marries Elsie. Sniveley's Soap sales increase exponentially.