In 1969, the Apollo moon landing is to be televised internationally but at a country fair in England a small boy named Jim meets the 90-year-old Julius Bedford who tells him that, in 1909, as a struggling writer, he met eccentric Professor Cavor, inventor of Cavorite, a gravity-defying substance which they used to build a sphere, which took them to the Moon. Captured by ant-like Selenites, Bedford was anxious to make his escape but Cavor was happy to stay and communicate with the Moon-dwellers. Back on Earth, Bedford hears via wireless that Cavor was forced to kill himself and the Moon-dwellers to prevent them from invading Earth. As Jim watches the Apollo landing with his parents, he sees a Selenite, hiding behind a lunar rock, peering at the astronauts.