The book opens with Tom on an errand for his father. He is on a bicycle, and is nearly run down by one Andy Foger, a red-haired squinty-eyed bully, who is trying to get his new automobile to go as fast as possible. Andy ends up in a ditch, and blames Tom. (This may be the first documented case of "road-rage.") Later on that same trip, Tom encounters one Wakefield Damon, who crashes his new motor-cycle against a tree near Tom's house and is injured. Tom buys the wreck and repairs it, thus leading to his Adventures On the Road.

Tom was been given charge by his father of delivering important patent documents and a proof-of-concept model to an attorney in distant Albany, NY. Those documents, along with the model, a new turbine engine developed by Tom's father Barton, are the central anchor around which the rest of the story revolves.

Barton's turbine design and model are stolen by a gang, posing as tramps. The gang are hired by frustrated investors, seeking to "get ahead" of Barton and capitalize on the new design. The gang attacks Tom and drugs him during his road trip to Albany. Tom escapes, and after some serious detective work, finds the bad-guys' hideout. With the help of Mr. Damon and several other men, Tom recovers the stolen items. The bad guys slip away in the confusion, to return in future episodes.