Twenty-seven-year-old Howard the Duck lives on Duckworld, a planet similar to Earth, but inhabited by anthropomorphic ducks and orbited by twin moons. As he is reading the latest issue of Playduck magazine, his armchair begins to quake violently and propels him out of his apartment building and into outer space; Howard eventually lands on Earth, in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon arriving, Howard encounters a woman being attacked by thugs.