The “Day of the Triffids” is set in an indeterminate “present” as this work of fiction was written during the 1950’s. The hero of the story is a biologist named Bill Masen. He specializes in the study, care, and cultivation of the titular triffids. The triffids are large, carnivorous, venomous plants, later revealed to be capable of movement as well as communication and coordination as they were more intelligent than people suspected. In “Day of the Triffids” these dangerous creatures are cultivated for their oils that are described as being “superior to fish or vegetable oils.” Bill surmises that triffids are artificially engineered life forms created by the Soviet Republic and spread globally via an accident that results in triffid spores being carried by the wind.
Readers first encounter Bill Masen recuperating in the hospital, temporarily blinded after having his eyes sprayed with triffid venom. While recovering he is told of the occurrence of a green meteor shower. The following day the horrible effects of the green meteor shower are revealed: anyone caught looking directly at the light emitted by the meteor shower has been rendered permanently blind. Bill however is mercifully spared, his eyes shielded by the bandages. The first sight that greets him upon removing his bandages is London in the throes of confusion and chaos. While wandering about a ruined London he chances upon a woman being used a Seeing Eye dog against her will by a blind survivor. The woman is the wealthy novelist and socialite Josella Payton. Bill rescues Josella and they decide to travel together for their mutual protection. They eventually come across a group of sighted survivors led by Michael Beadley, a cruel, opportunistic man who sees the newly blind members of society as inferior and therefore a waste of resources. Beadley plans to create a commune of survivors in the British countryside, discarding the blind, save for a few women whom he intends to use as breeding stock. This plan sickens some of the more morally upright within the group, particularly the devout Ms. Florence Durrant.
These differences in opinion began to create factions within the assembly and before these factions managed to divide the group entirely a fire breaks out at the university where they are hiding in. The arson is Wilfred Coker, a self-proclaimed “champion” of the newly blind. Coker kidnaps a couple of sighted individuals from Beadley’s group, including Bill and Josella. The pair are then separated and chained to a blind person allied with Coker and tasked to each lead a squad of the blind taking them on supply runs, triffid defense missions, or fighting off rival scavengers led by a sighted, despotic, red-haired man named Torrence. Bill is compelled to stay with this group of survivors out of a sense of social responsibility, until a mysterious disease starts slowly but steadily killing those in the enclave. He leaves the group to try to find Josella but the only clue he finds of her whereabouts is an address left by the now deceased members of the Beadley faction. Accompanied by Coker, who has now experienced a change of heart, they head out to a community of survivors located in a country manor called Tynsham but Josella isn’t among them. In the midst of all the confusion the triffids steadily proliferate, grow stronger, and become more aggressive, overrunning the human populations of certain towns. A young girl named Susan eventually joins Bill as he searches for Josella. He finds and rescues Susan, her brother having been killed by triffids while he was protecting her, their home fenced in by the vicious mobile plants. Together, they eventually succeed in finding Josella, who was taking shelter with a blind group at a house in Sussex. The two are reunited and they live happily for a time as a makeshift family, with Susan being treated as their daughter.
Over time though triffids continued to multiply uncontested as humanity struggles to recover from the pandemic of blindness and the resultant pandemonium. Slowly but steadily they begin to stamp out native flora, making the act of gathering food increasingly more difficult. Bill’s group attempt to eke out an existence on Sussex but it proves to be difficult and they are barely able to harvest enough for their needs. A representative from survivor community formerly headed by Beadley arrives on the Sussex group via helicopter. He informs Bill and his group that the Isle of Wight has now been turned into a safe haven for survivors both blind and sighted. Despite the difficulties of their agrarian lifestyle, Bill and his group are reluctant to leave their settlement when offered to join the Isle of Wight colony.
Shortly after their refusal to accept the offer to unite with the Isle of Wight settlement, a battalion of militiamen under the leadership of Torrence suddenly and savagely attacks them. The Torrence faction is a new violently militaristic regime slowly gaining a foothold across England. Their despotic leader proclaims that he intends to use Bill’s community as a holding facility for blind survivors. This announcement horrifies the group but Torrence uses Susan as a hostage of sorts, moving her to another district. Bill’s group complies with his demands to prevent the loss of lives through conflict and to allow them a chance to rescue Susan and escape. Susan is eventually rescued and Bill and his comrades manage to sabotage the militiamen’s vehicles and escape to join forces with the Isle of Wight group. Upon arrival the group establishes itself. Together, Bill and the rest of the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight face an uncertain future on an earth where the triffids have all but supplanted humanity from the top of the food chain.
