A technical error in his cooling bed chamber makes Ijon Tichy wake up after a long trip through space, 30 years older. Halluzinelle, his analogue companion, does not know anything about mortality and therefore his problem seems completely irrelevant to her. In order to survive the return trip Tichy needs a spare part and lands on the planet of Enteropien. Soon enough Tichy physically experiences the enormous fantasy the local population comes up with while trying to counter the meteorite shower that has been going on for thousands of years.