On the planet Zarathustra, a sunstone prospector named Jack Holloway has a mysterious small, "fuzzy" alien show up at his door and make itself at home. Jack names it "Little Fuzzy" and the creature's whole family soon joins them. Hardened prospector Jack is transformed into their "pappy" and chief protector and his life is changed forever. It turns out the critters are quite intelligent and the question of whether they are sapient beings or just fur bearing creatures leads Jack and his friends on a quest to discover the answer.

The quest becomes a matter of urgency when the company that has been growing rich from mining the planet, decides to exterminate the Fuzzies. This sleads to murder, deceit, kidnapping and intrigue but, ultimately, a very happy ending. The book was so popular that two sequals were written by the author and, after his death, there was such a call for "Fuzzy novels" that two more "official sequels" were written by other authors. Many also think "The Fuzzies" were the inspiration for The Ewoks in the Star Wars movies and perhaps the "Tribbles" in Star Trek.