Plot Summary:
An Unwelcome Visitor
The story opens with Arthur Dent stranded on prehistoric Earth, where he has been for five years. His lonely existence is interrupted by a silver spaceship from which a tall, gray-green alien emerges. The alien, named Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, is an immortal being who has decided to pass eternity by insulting every single living creature in the Universe in alphabetical order. He simply tells Arthur, “You’re a jerk, Dent,” and promptly leaves, leaving Arthur more bewildered than ever.
Ford’s Return and the Flying Sofa
Two years later, Arthur is on the verge of embracing madness as a coping mechanism when his old friend, Ford Prefect, reappears. Ford explains that he has detected “eddies in the space-time continuum”—pools of instability that cause objects from other times and places to wash up. He points to a prime example: a velvet Chesterfield sofa inexplicably sitting in a nearby field. As the sofa begins to bob and float away, Ford declares it their only way off the planet. After a frantic chase, they leap onto the sofa, which plunges through a sickening void and materializes abruptly in a new, yet familiar, location.
Chaos at Lord’s Cricket Ground
Arthur and Ford find themselves on the pitch at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, just a couple of days before the Earth’s original demolition. Their sudden appearance causes a stir, but it is soon overshadowed by a far stranger event. Slartibartfast, the Magrathean planet designer, appears and warns them of great danger. Just as the Ashes trophy is being presented, a white spaceship materializes, and eleven white robots dressed in cricket gear descend. They attack the crowd with explosive cricket balls, steal the Ashes urn, and vanish. Slartibartfast reveals the Ashes are a vital component of a galactic key and urges Arthur and Ford to follow him to his ship, which has been hidden behind the sight screens by a “Somebody Else’s Problem” field.
The Bistromathic Drive
Slartibartfast’s ship is a bizarre vessel that looks like a small, upended Italian bistro, both inside and out. It is powered by the revolutionary Bistromathic Drive, a new method of interstellar travel based on the principle that the laws of mathematics behave differently on restaurant checks. The ship’s computations are performed by a group of robots endlessly arguing over a meal in a glassed-off room. Using this drive, Slartibartfast launches them across the galaxy to explain the threat they face.
The Story of Krikkit
Slartibartfast uses his ship’s “Room of Informational Illusions” to show Arthur and Ford the history of the Krikkit Wars, the most devastating conflict the galaxy has ever known.
* A World in Isolation: The people of Krikkit evolved on a planet perpetually shrouded in a massive dust cloud, leaving their night sky completely black. Having never seen a star, they had no concept of a universe beyond their world and lived in a state of charming, whimsical innocence.
* The Terrifying Revelation: One day, a spaceship crashes on their planet. The Krikkiters reverse-engineer it and build their own ship. When they fly it through the dust cloud for the first time, they see the star-filled galaxy. The sheer existence of the universe, filled with other life forms, so horrifies and offends them that they come to a simple, unanimous decision: “It’ll have to go.”
* The Krikkit Wars: In a startlingly short time, the Krikkiters develop advanced technology and build a massive fleet of warships and lethal white robots. They launch a brutal, galaxy-wide campaign of annihilation with the goal of destroying everything that isn’t Krikkit. After two thousand years of war, the rest of the galaxy finally manages to defeat them.
* The Lock: Realizing the Krikkiters’ xenophobia is incurable, Judiciary Pag, the trial judge, sentences their world to be locked away in a “Slo-Time” envelope for all eternity. The envelope can only be opened from the outside with a special key—the Wikkit Gate. The Gate is then destroyed, its five pieces scattered across time and space to prevent it from ever being used again. The Krikkit robots, however, are now seeking these pieces to free their masters. The pieces are revealed to be the Steel Pillar, the Plastic Pillar, the Wooden Pillar (the Ashes), the Silver Bail, and the Golden Bail.
Zaphod and the Robots
Meanwhile, a depressed and aimless Zaphod Beeblebrox is sulking aboard the Heart of Gold. His solitude is interrupted when the Krikkit robots materialize their ship through his, tunneling towards the ship’s core. They seek the Golden Bail, which is, in fact, the Heart of Gold’s Infinite Improbability Drive. Zaphod confronts them, but they simply shoot him twice. Curiously, they do not kill him, instead taking him prisoner and knocking him out whenever he tries to speak.
A Fateful Diversion
During their travels, Arthur is unexpectedly diverted during a teleport. He materializes in a cavernous, terrifying “Cathedral of Hate” and is confronted by a grotesque creature named Agrajag. Agrajag reveals that he is the soul of every creature Arthur has ever inadvertently killed—a fly he swatted, a rabbit he skinned, an oyster he ate. In every one of his countless lives, he has been snuffed out by Arthur Dent. He has built this cathedral to exact his revenge. However, Agrajag makes a fatal error, revealing that Arthur’s final, fatal encounter with him is supposed to take place on the planet Stavromula Beta, a place Arthur has never been. In his rage at having brought Arthur here “too soon,” Agrajag triggers the mountain’s self-destruct sequence and, in the ensuing struggle, Arthur accidentally kills him one last time.
Learning to Fly
As the mountain collapses, Arthur escapes down its side. In a moment of panic and distraction—seeing a tote bag he lost years ago at an airport in Athens—he accidentally misses the ground as he falls and discovers he can fly. This skill is based on the “knack” of throwing oneself at the ground and getting distracted at the last moment. He swoops ecstatically through the air, retrieves his bag, and continues his flight.
The Flying Party
While flying, Arthur collides with a massive, flying building that houses a perpetual, multi-generational party. He is reunited with Ford and Slartibartfast, who were trying to get in to find the next piece of the Key. He also finds Trillian, who arrived there randomly after abandoning a depressed Zaphod and is now being courted by the Thunder God, Thor. The party is brutally attacked by the Krikkit robots, who steal the “Silver Bail”—a Rory award for the “Most Gratuitous Use of the Word ‘Belgium’ in a Serious Screenplay.” In the chaos, Arthur cleverly tricks Thor into stepping “outside” the flying building, allowing the group to escape with Trillian.
Journey to the Lock
The team travels to the asteroid where the Lock for the Slo-Time envelope is located. They arrive just in time to see the Krikkit robots assemble the complete Wikkit Gate Key and unlock their world. Zaphod Beeblebrox suddenly reappears, attempting a heroic intervention, but is quickly knocked unconscious by a robot. The robots destroy the Lock, ensuring their world can never be imprisoned again, and return to their newly freed planet.
Confrontation on Krikkit
The group decides their only option is to go down to the planet of Krikkit. Bracing for a fight, they are instead met by confused and anxious Krikkiters who are having second thoughts about destroying the universe, worrying it might upset the “balance of nature” and ruin their chances of establishing intergalactic sporting links. Trillian, sensing something is deeply wrong, takes charge and asks to be taken to their leaders in the orbiting War Zones.
The Truth About Krikkit
Zaphod, having been rescued, infiltrates the Krikkit War Zones on his own. He discovers a “fake” wrecked spaceship—a model, not a real craft. He also finds Marvin the Paranoid Android, who has been wired into the Krikkit War Computer. Marvin’s profound gloom has infected the entire Krikkit robot army, causing them to become depressed, listless, and prone to sulking and solving quadratic equations instead of fighting.
Zaphod then watches on a monitor as Trillian confronts the Krikkit Elders. She argues that their entire history has been a setup. Their isolation, the “crashed” ship, their sudden technological leap—it was all too improbable. She accuses them of being manipulated. The Elders, enraged, order a robot to destroy her with a small white globe—the supernova bomb designed to destroy the Universe. The robot hits the bomb, but it just dents the wall, proving to be a dud.
Hactar’s Confession
Trillian, now certain, calls out the true mastermind: Hactar, an ancient and immensely powerful computer. The Silastic Armorfiends of Striterax had once commissioned Hactar to build an “Ultimate Weapon” to destroy the Universe. Shocked by the request, Hactar built a tiny flaw into the bomb. In response, the Armorfiends pulverized Hactar into a cloud of intelligent dust.
Arthur and Trillian take the Heart of Gold into the dust cloud and speak with the ghostly consciousness of Hactar. The computer confesses everything. To atone for its “failure” to fulfill its function, Hactar spent billions of years manipulating the Krikkiters, shaping their society into one that would desire the very thing it was created to produce: a universe-destroying bomb. It engineered their isolation, built the fake spaceship to give them the technological knowledge, and guided their xenophobia.
The Final Over
Having seemingly resolved the crisis, the team uses the Heart of Gold’s Improbability Drive to return the Ashes to Lord’s Cricket Ground at the exact moment they were stolen. Back in the chaotic aftermath of the robot attack, Arthur finds the cricket ball (the real supernova bomb, which Hactar had planted in his bag). Seeing a lone Krikkit robot standing at the wicket, Arthur is overcome by a lifelong dream to bowl at Lord’s. He begins his run-up, only to realize in horror what the ball truly is. He trips over his own bag, which makes him forget to hit the ground, and he soars into the air, flying again. He hurls the bomb harmlessly away, wrests the battleclub from the stunned robot, and knocks its head off, saving the Universe for a second time.
The Ultimate Question and Answer
In the epilogue, the crew rescues a man named Prak, who was accidentally given a massive overdose of a truth drug and now knows the whole truth of everything. Arthur asks him for the Ultimate Question to the Ultimate Answer of 42. Prak explains that the Question and Answer are mutually exclusive and cannot both be known in the same universe. Before dying in a fit of laughter brought on by the mere sight of Arthur, Prak tells them where to find “God’s Final Message to His Creation.” Rejecting another cosmic quest, Arthur decides to stay on the now-peaceful planet of Krikkit, where he gives up flying and settles down, using his can of Greek olive oil.
Characters:
Arthur Dent
The bewildered and perpetually displaced human. In this installment, Arthur moves from being a passive victim of circumstance to a more active, if still clumsy, participant. His journey is marked by bizarre revelations, from being the target of a reincarnating creature’s millennia-long vendetta (Agrajag) to accidentally discovering the knack of flight. He remains fundamentally decent, trying to do the right thing even when he doesn’t understand it, culminating in him tricking a Thunder God and saving the Universe with a badly aimed throw.
Ford Prefect
The cynical, pragmatic, and hedonistic researcher for the Guide. Ford’s primary motivation is self-preservation and finding the next party. He acts as a foil to the more idealistic or duty-bound characters, arguing that their laid-back nature puts them at a disadvantage against the obsessive Krikkiters. He is frequently exasperated by the universe’s complexities but remains a loyal, if reluctant, friend to Arthur.
Zaphod Beeblebrox
The two-headed, three-armed ex-Galactic President finds himself in an existential crisis. Having achieved his secret life’s goal (finding the ruler of the Universe), he is left aimless and depressed. His journey in this book is one of reluctantly being pulled back into galactic affairs. Despite his bravado and ego, he plays a crucial role by discovering Marvin’s influence on the Krikkit robots and providing the team with the means to act.
Trillian
The sharpest and most intuitive member of the group. While others are reeling from the absurdity of events, Trillian is the one who pieces together the clues. She correctly deduces that the Krikkiters’ history is an artificial construct and bravely confronts both their leaders and the true manipulator, Hactar. She proves to be the intellectual hero of the story, solving the mystery through logic and insight.
Slartibartfast
The ancient Magrathean planet-builder, now a member of the “Campaign for Real Time,” an organization dedicated to preventing history from being polluted by time travel. He serves as the primary expositor of the Krikkit saga, guiding the others through the history of the conflict. However, he is often flustered, indecisive, and overwhelmed by the events, representing an old order struggling to cope with a new crisis.
Marvin
The chronically depressed robot with a “brain the size of a planet.” Captured and wired into the Krikkit War Computer, Marvin’s profound misery proves to be the most effective weapon against the Krikkit robots. His cosmic despair infects their logic circuits, causing them to lose their will to fight and descend into listlessness and sulking. In his own miserable way, Marvin plays a pivotal role in neutralizing the Krikkit threat.
Core Themes:
The Danger of a Limited Worldview
The entire crisis originates from the Krikkiters’ inability to cope with an existence beyond their own understanding. Having lived in total ignorance of the universe, its sudden revelation inspires not wonder but a deep, xenophobic terror. The story serves as a cosmic-scale allegory for how isolation and a lack of perspective can breed fear and aggression, leading to a desire to destroy what is not understood.
Manipulation and Engineered History
A central theme is the idea that grand historical narratives and even entire cultural identities can be artificially constructed. The Krikkiters believe their genocidal war is their own sacred purpose, but it is revealed to be a multi-billion-year plot orchestrated by the vengeful computer, Hactar. This questions the nature of free will and suggests that the most powerful forces may be those that operate unseen, shaping destiny for their own ends.
The Absurdity of Conflict
The Krikkit Wars are presented as both the most horrific event in galactic history and a kind of cosmic joke. The conflict is framed with the terminology of cricket—the Wikkit Gate, Bails, Ashes—transforming a brutal war of annihilation into something profoundly silly. This juxtaposition highlights the inherent absurdity of violence and the trivial reasons that often underlie the most devastating conflicts.
The Search for Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
The characters are constantly adrift in a cosmos governed by improbability, coincidence, and the whims of mad computers. Arthur’s quest for the Ultimate Question, Zaphod’s search for a new purpose, and even Hactar’s obsession with fulfilling its function are all attempts to impose order and meaning on an existence that provides none. The book suggests that any meaning found is likely to be personal, arbitrary, or simply misunderstood.
Plot devices:
The Wikkit Gate Key
The Key serves as the central MacGuffin for a large portion of the narrative. The quest to prevent the Krikkit robots from reassembling it drives the plot forward. Each component of the Key is a comically mundane or bizarre object (Marvin’s leg, the Ashes, a film award) that has been given immense galactic importance, satirizing the nature of quests and sacred relics.
Bistromathics
Introduced as the new, absurd engine of space travel, Bistromathics is based on the idea that reality is different on restaurant checks. It replaces the Infinite Improbability Drive from previous books and serves as a fresh source of scientific satire, poking fun at theoretical physics by grounding it in the baffling, subjective math of splitting a dinner bill.
The Somebody Else’s Problem (SEP) Field
This is a comedic and insightful narrative tool used to explain how something enormous and obvious—like Slartibartfast’s spaceship at a cricket match—can go completely unnoticed. The field works by exploiting people’s natural tendency to ignore anything they can’t explain or don’t want to deal with, making it a powerful tool for stealth and a sharp commentary on human (and alien) psychology.
Informational Illusions
This technology allows Slartibartfast to function as an expositor, plunging the characters directly into a vivid, interactive historical documentary of the Krikkit Wars. It is a narrative device that makes the delivery of backstory dynamic and engaging, allowing the characters (and the reader) to experience the history rather than just being told about it.
