Ted is a tour guide at the Bloomsberry Museum who gives weekly presentations to schoolteacher Maggie Dunlop and her students. The museum's owner, Mr. Bloomsberry, informs Ted that the museum is no longer earning a steady profit and will have to close. Mr. Bloomsberry's son Junior wants to tear down the museum and replace it with a commercial parking lot. Ted impulsively volunteers to travel to Africa to bring back an ancient forty-foot tall idol known as the Lost Shrine of Zagawa, in the hopes that it will attract visitors. He is outfitted with a bright yellow suit and hat and boards a cargo ship to Africa.