Patrick Smash is a young boy with a rare and devastating gift for farting; a talent which unfortunately tends to ostracise him from his peers. Luckily his best friend Alan A. Allen, a child genius with no sense of smell, has invented some special underwear - known as Thunderpants - which give Patrick a degree of much-needed control over his flatulence. But when Alan then upgrades his invention to grant Patrick the power of self-propelled flight, the boys soon find themselves whisked-off on an international adventure involving deceptive opera singers and daring space rescues.