The U.S. State Department is facing a PR nightmare: As the astronauts on the next Gemini mission were unable to come up with the name for the spacecraft for luck, as is custom, they allowed their children to come up with the name. Their choice: Herman's Hermits. The fact that Herman's Hermits is a rock band is the lesser of the problems; the main one is that they are not even American, but British, evoking the Revolutionary War. Colby Grant of the State Department assigns Cape Kennedy Space Center scientist Ed Lindquist, whom he believes is the source of the problem in letting it happen, to follow the band on their current first-ever American tour so they can spin this problem effectively, Ed, a middle-age white man who is frustrated by this assignment in having no idea about the band or their music. Beyond the lads wanting to experience life in the States unencumbered, Ed has the additional problems of going through Dudley Hawks, the band's manager and the only one allowed to manufacture their publicity; and the throngs of adoring young female fans wherever the band goes. Of those adoring young female fans, the two causing the most problems are: Cecilie Bannister, an aspiring starlet who feigns being old friends with Herman as leverage for upcoming contract negotiations with her studio; and Louisa "Louie" Page, with whom Herman falls in love-at-first-sight.
Hold On!
British beat group Herman's Hermits, on tour in the USA, is offered an opportunity to have a spaceship named after the group. Several people seem to care whether it happens or not.
