enelope Pitstop must have, at some point, wondered why a masked villain calling himself the Hooded Claw persistently kidnapped and attempted to do away with her. It turns out Penelope was heiress to a vast fortune and the only way her "trusted and devoted" guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, could gain the inheritance for himself was if Penelope were not around. So Mr. Sneekly disguised himself in a hat, green cape and mask and adopted the sinister alias Hooded Claw to do just that - eliminate the person standing between himself and the easy life.

The Hooded Claw hatched schemes that would do a Bond villain proud - instead of just doing away with Penelope, he'd capture her then attempt to carry out some cleverly convoluted plan that afforded her plenty of time to escape. Assisting him were two henchmen called the Bully Brothers, who looked, dressed and spoke exactly alike.

Penelope had the bearing of a southern belle, very ladylike and proper, which was apparent by the way she formed phrases and by her southern accent, such as yelling "hay-ulp" (help) when in danger. Time and again she fell easily into the Hooded Claw's clutches, then proved incredibly resourceful when it came to escaping. Looking out for Penelope's welfare were a group of pint-sized gangster types called the Ant Hill Mob. Whenever Penelope was in danger (which was all the time) they'd race to her rescue in their vehicle Chug-a-Boom, a self-aware car that could respond to directions. At times the Ant Hill Mob were successful, but a good deal of the time their efforts resulted in their own need of rescue, and Penelope would end up having to save not only herself, but her would-be saviors as well.

Clyde was leader of the Ant Hill Mob and gave the orders. A good many of the Ant Hill Mob's failures were in consequence to Clyde telling Dum Dum to do something, then Dum Dum carrying out the order in the worst possible way. There is no mystery how Dum Dum got his name. Another member of the mob was Softy, a sensitive soul who cried constantly, in good or bad situations. Softy's polar opposite was Yak Yak, who thought everything was funny and never stopped laughing. Snoozy had trouble staying awake and shared driving responsibilities with Dum Dum. If an item was needed, such as a bridge or a trampoline, Pockets could pull the item out of his coat pocket, ready for use. Lastly, Zippy was a speedster who could move with incredible quickness.

During the show a narrator (voice of Gary Owens), gave a running dialogue of the action as it unfolded, instilling a tongue-in-cheek sense of drama to developments, while at the same time serving the audience a healthy helping of alliteration; for instance, "Poor Penelope, is there no way that this terrible torpedo trap can be tripped up?" Occasionally the Hooded Claw or Penelope responded to the narrator or made a comment directly to the viewing audience - the Hooded Claw gloating upon his foreseeable success or upset that his plans were being openly broadcast, or Penelope calmly expressing her concern when her life was in mortal danger.