The story begins on August 2nd, 1894. The narrator is in an observatory, when he sees a bright flash appear on Mars. The next ten days, the bright flash appears, but everyone thinks they are meteors. A few days later, a cylinder crash lands in the Narrator’s town, Woking, England. The townsfolk are amazed and surround the cylinder, along with scientists Oglivy and Henderson. Suddenly the cylinder unscrews and an octopus looking creature comes out. It fires a heat ray at the surrounding people, instantly killing them. The town evacuates, and the Narrator takes his wife to a nearby town to be safe.

He returns to his home for food, but when he arrives, a massive tripod with a metal body on top is destroying the town. He hides in his house for a while and waits for the mechanical monster to pass. He hears someone outside, and peers out the window. It is the artilleryman. His unit was attacked and he is the lone survivor. He tells the Narrator a second cylinder has landed between Woking and the town his wife is in so it is impossible for him to return. The two decide to go to London and leave the Narrator’s house. They come to a river crossing where they are forced to swim across, but they are separated.

Another tripod appears and attempts to kill everyone at the water crossing, but is killed when artillery strikes its head. The narrator manages to get to the shore and continues to London, where his brother resides. His brother watches as London descends into chaos as people are desperately trying to leave by any means necessary. He decides to leave also, and hitches a ride with two women, Mrs. Elphinstone and he sister-in-law. They continue until they reach the coast, where they board a boat. The tripods attempt to attack their ship, but they are protected by the ironclad, Thunder Child and the narrator’s brother escapes.

Meanwhile, the narrator comes upon an abandoned house, which he scavenges for food with a curate he met after the river crossing. Suddenly, a cylinder crashes nearby, nearly destroying the house. The Martian emerges from its cylinder. The curate and narrator stay inside the house for days, fearing the Martian may hear or see them. The curate overtime becomes insane from being trapped in the house and begins to scream. The Martian hears, and comes into the house and feeds on the curate as the narrator hides in the pantry.

The narrator escapes and continues onward. He comes upon the artilleryman once again. He tells him of his dreams of rebuilding civilization underground. Thinking his plans are nonsense, the narrator moves on to London only to find devastation. Tired of all the misery, he decides to kill himself by running in front of a tripod. But he finds that it’s not moving, and the Martians have died from bacterial infections. The narrator returns home. He Is still dad from his wife dying in the attack. But when he arrives, his wife is there waiting for him.