This collection of classic short stories includes: "A Sound of Thunder", in which hunting enthusiasts get the chance of a lifetime: to travel back in time to bag a Tyrannosaurus Rex. "Dark They Were and Golden Eyed": Harry is resigned to living on Mars for a while, until a nuclear war on Earth strands the settlers forever. In "The Happiness Machine", an old man builds a machine meant to make all who enter it happy. But the most important person in his life is not amused! In "The Fox and the Forest", a couple flees from war in 2155 to 20th-century Mexico, a paradise compared to their world of disease bombs and widespread horror. In "Here There Be Tygers", prospectors from Earth travel to a world that knows their hearts' desires, but someone has dark desires and pays the ultimate price. In "Kaleidoscope", a routine space flight ends in an explosion, throwing the crew into space with only their space suits and radios.

In "The Man", a space crew lands on a planet to make first contact only to discover a prior visitor has stolen their thunder. In "Night Call, Collect", the lone survivor of a rocket crew on Mars has waited his lifetime to be rescued. Then, when he is 80, his phone rings! "The Screaming Woman": Margaret is playing by her house when she hears a woman scream for help from the ground! Will anyone believe her? "There Was an Old Woman": Old Aunt Tildy is shocked when a mortician comes to take her to the mortuary. In "The Veldt" a rich couple builds a virtual playroom for their spoiled children, complete with an African savannah and man-eating lions. You can even smell the lions' last meal. "The Wind": Where does the wind come from? Is it "born"? Intelligent? A terrified man seems to know all about it and who it's after. In "The Ravine" a strangler is murdering single women. Will the mysterious ravine be enough to save Lavinia and her friends?