Just out of college, Dr. Elwin Ransom is strolling through the countryside of England. Continuing his journey to find a place to rest for the night, he hears commotion inside the gate of an estate. He hops through a hedge and finds Dr. Weston and Mr. Devine grabbing at a boy. Ransom stops them, and the two invite him inside what appears to be their shared residence. They offer Ransom a drink, and he accepts.
In a science fiction novel, not even a drink can be normal. It was filled with sleeping pills, and Ransom drifts off into a deep slumber. He has an odd dream about aliens, and, when he finally awakes, he contemplates whether or not it is true. According to Weston and Devine, who are still there, he is now on a spaceship. Apparently, Weston and Devine are another species, from the planet Malacandra. Ransom was taken as ransom for people on that world called Sorns - he is to be sacrificed to them.
The ship lands on the odd planet, which, aesthetically, is beautiful. The ship lands right by a lake, and that is when Ransom sees three narrow figures walking towards him from the water. Assuming they are Sorns, he runs away into the forest, which is filled with alien plants and animals.
Ransom rests in the forest and is not bothered for the rest of the night. Of course, his fear is overwhelming, but he is still able to get a decent amount of sleep. Upon waking in the morning, he goes to a lake, where he meets a creature called a Hross. He is initially afraid, but the creature speaks to him. Ransom then assumes that it is intelligent, and they become, in a punctured sort of way, friends.
Ransom goes the the Hross's village and meets others there. They tell him the story of their planet, and he tells him the story of Earth. Somehow, they are able to understand one another. Ransom tells the Hross that Earth is a silent planet, because long ago, after a battle described by the Hross, it was separated from the heavens.
Ransom returns to Earth with Weston and Devine, who have somehow forgotten that he was meant as a sacrifice. Perhaps this was just a falsehood. At home Ransom meets Lewis, an educated student who was once the student of Ransom. Lewis asks him about the meaning of the word Oyarsa, which he saw in a Latin text. Oyarsa was the head god of the Hross religion.
