In The Road to Oz, Dorothy is back home in Kansas when she meets the kindly, wandering Shaggy Man and tries to help him find the road he seeks, only for them both (along with Toto) to get magically lost. They soon pick up two more lost companions: the perplexing little boy Button-Bright and the beautiful, ethereal Polychrome, daughter of the Rainbow. Their journey takes them through several strange lands with peculiar inhabitants (like Foxville and the Scoodlers) before they eventually arrive in the Emerald City, just in time for Princess Ozma's spectacular birthday celebration. The story is largely a travelogue culminating in a grand party attended by almost every major character from the previous Oz books, emphasizing themes of friendship, kindness (especially through the Shaggy Man's "Love Magnet"), and the simple joy of adventure and community.