Professor Pedeeque discovers a strange comet, predicted by an ancient astronomer who has forecast the destruction of the world through the approach of the nebular visitor. The professor builds an oxygen studio; into which he takes Claire, daughter, and Fuller Speed, her sweetheart, in order that they may all be saved from the gases of the comet, which has now descended upon the world. The gases check the speed of the people and make them slow, mechanical beings. The oxygen in the studio runs short and the occupants draw lots to see who shall be cast out. Fuller Speed is the victim and he is chucked through a porthole into the slow-creeping world without.