A reluctant young Phantom, in this version called Kip Walker, is made to leave the jungle at the age of 10 to receive his education in America, initially staying with his mother's sister Lucy Walker and her husband Jasper and with only his young friend Guran (soon to be Bandar chief) as support from "home'.

In this gripping tale, Phantom author Lee Falk for the first time relates the full-length story of how 'our' Phantom grew up and eventually assumed his father's thrown. (Compare with a second such story by Falk/McCoy in S053 The Childhood of the Phantom.)