The show opens on a bare stage, save for an odd red-and-white-striped hat in the center. A small boy wanders into view and notices the hat, wondering to whom it might belong. He finally mentions the Cat in the Hat, who appears before the Boy and tells him he has been brought to life by the Boy's "Thinks". The Cat creates the "Seussian" world and characters around the boy and himself ("Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!"). The Cat then reveals to the Boy that he is about to tell a story about someone as imaginative as the Boy is.