Elroy's class is boarding a school bus after a field trip on an asteroid. After most of the class has boarded, Elroy hasn't, frustrating the robot who is letting the children onboard, so she sends out another, flying robot to search for him. It turns out that Elroy has found what appears to be a rock and wants to keep it as a souvenir. The flying robot grabs Elroy and takes him to the bus, while the souvenir jumps into his bag.
Back at home, George and Jane are watching a holographic soap opera, which George finds boring. Judy walks in complaining about how her hair-styling device malfunctioned and messed up her hair. George changes the channel and Jane tries to switch it back, only for the two holographic shows to get merged together.
Rosie enters with Elroy, and it's already time for him to go to bed. Meanwhile, Astro steals the object Elroy brought home and buries it in the houseplant, only for it to dig itself out and bounce back into the bag. Jane puts Elroy to bed and sets him up with a machine that controls his dreams.
Then, Astro falls asleep next to Elroy's bed and the item— which turns out to not be a rock after all, but rather an egg— hatches legs. It starts bouncing around on its spring-like legs and when it lands on Elroy's bed, Astro begins fighting it, waking Elroy up. Astro apologises, but it turns out that Elroy already knew he was sorry; he just wanted an explanation. Astro points up to the egg, now on the ceiling, which finishes hatching. Elroy and Astro are both scared, but Elroy soon becomes excited. However, when Astro growls at the creature, Elroy makes him sleep in the kitchen. As it turns out, the creature's name is Orbitty, and he falls asleep in Elroy's bed.
The next morning, George has indigestion and a device puts too much shampoo and shaving cream on him. Judy thanks him for fixing her hair styler, but it turns out that he didn't. George, wondering if it was Elroy who broke his grooming machine, turns on another machine, which Orbitty jumps out of and runs away.
Judy and George think Orbitty is dangerous and George tries to shoo him away, but he hugs George and clings to the wall with the suction cups on his feet when George tries to carry him away. Rosie mistakes Orbitty for a dust rag and is too scared of him when she finds out he's an alien. George tells Astro to attack, but Astro runs away.
Elroy comes in and explains that Orbitty is his friend and he hatched from an egg, so the family looks him up on the encyclopedia. As it turns out, Orbitty is from an endangered, benevolent species that changes colour to show emotion. He then repairs the TV.
Later, Orbitty swings Elroy from the ceiling and Elroy tries to play fetch for Astro, but Orbitty catches the stick first. Then, at lunch, Orbitty eats Astro's food and some table scraps that were also meant for Astro. To make matters worse, when Orbitty dances, the family gives him all the attention, making Astro feel like he's being replaced. While the Jetsons discuss keeping Orbitty, Astro leaves and is taken by a dogcatcher.
Elroy wants to search for Astro that night, but his parents decide to search in the morning instead. Elroy asks Orbitty why Astro ran away and Orbitty suspects jealousy, accusing Elroy of ignoring Astro. Orbitty reveals that he can find Astro, so the two go to search on their own.
Orbitty finds Astro at the pound, where the two pets bury the hatchet, but then the dogcatcher arrives. Orbitty hides Elroy on the ceiling, and when the dogcatcher leaves, Orbitty picks the lock and they all run away. The dogcatcher chases them and Orbitty ends up trapping the dogcatcher.
At home, the parents are too glad to be angry with Elroy and Orbitty. Orbitty fears that he doesn't belong, but the Jetsons let him stay. Then, the pets kiss each other on the ceiling.
This episode provides examples of
- Accidental Misnaming: The dogcatcher thinks Astro's name is Rover.
- Amusing Alien: Orbitty does things like swing people from the ceiling and change colour to express emotion.
- Big Eater: Orbitty eats two dog bowls full of food.
- Cheery Pink: Orbitty turns pink as a way of showing affection.
- Crashing Dreams: A variation— when the pets land on Elroy's bed, the AI that controls dreams incorporates it into the dream as a swarm of deadly bees.
- Fembot: In addition to Rosie, the robot who puts the kids on the school bus resembles a woman.
- Jealous Pet: Part of the reason Astro ran away (the other part being that Orbitty stole his stick and his food) is because he was jealous of the family giving Orbitty more attention than him.
- Mr Fix It: Orbitty fixes the hair-styling machine and the holographic TV.
- Pet Baby Wild Animal: Orbitty is a newly-hatched alien from another planet that the family keeps as a pet.
- Platonic Kissing: The episode ends with the pets kissing.
- Real Men Hate Affection: Downplayed— George doesn't want to watch Jane's soap opera but it's not due to seeing it as unmanly, he just finds it boring.
- Remote Control Ruckus: George and Jane, a married couple, argue over whether to watch sports (George) or a soap opera (Jane). Eventually, the TV glitches out and plays a combination of both shows.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Discussed; the dream program generates a swarm of deadly bees as an enemy.
- Tropey, Come Home: Astro runs away due to being frustrated with Orbitty.
- Weird Crossover: A malfunction in the holographic TV results in a crossover between a soap and the sports channel.
