When Gene Almsson is forced into retirement after more than thirty years traveling the country helping the poultry industry, he finds it hard to go from advising wealthy people and earning their praise to doing dishes and finding ways to pass the time. He doesn't like his new life and he likes it even less when his daughter and one year old granddaughter move in.

Gene had spent decades finding ways to minimize his time at a home he thought of as an ant farm. Now, at sixty-three he is in the middle of it. His wife, Maryellen has a yarn store and insists she is done with nurturing. His daughter, Trish, seems to want what is best for her daughter as long as it doesn't take up any of her own time or money. Khloe, the one year old, wants and wants and wants and Gene always seems to be a step behind and a skill short of taking care of her unending, inexplicable wants.

It isn't long before Gene starts scheming how he can make his second escape from The Ant Farm.