Bounce is taken captive by a colony of grubs, and soon finds that she enjoys their company, but after Tink trades the gumbles grub supply for Bounce's safe return, she has warmed to the grubs so much that she begins behaving like one, landing herself and her friends in trouble on Snike Hill.

When Tink accidentally gets the twins tangle-spanged, he sets off to find grubs to cure them, unaware that Gubbo has invented a machine to round up all the grubs in order to starve the gumbles out of existence.

When the gumbles are attacked by one of Smiggles' dream creatures, Merri and Jolli wake Smiggles up, getting captured in the process, so Tink decides to impersonate a Smiggles dream creature in order to save his friends.