Arthur Dent is just an average Englishman until one day he discovers someone trying to bulldoze his house in order to make room for a new highway bypass. Arthur is extremely upset and engages the bulldozer operator in a battle of wills by lying down in front of his vehicle and refusing to move. However, Ford Prefect soon comes along and convinces him to join him in a nearby pub for a pint. Arthur agrees but makes the operator promise not to bulldoze his house until he comes back. While in the pub, Ford reveals that he is an alien researching The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and that the earth will soon be destroyed by an alien race known as the Vogons in order to clear the way for an intergalactic highway. They are then beamed aboard a Vogon ship and summarily tortured with Vogon poetry which as everyone knows is some of the worst poetry in the known universe. They are then rescued by Zaphod Beeblebrox in the Heart of Gold which is powered by an improbability drive. This drive allows the ship to do anything and everything including transcend space time and bend the laws of physics. It runs on tea. Arthur and Ford are introduced to Marvin and Trillian as they hurtle through space towards reaches unknown. Along their journey, the companions discover that the entirety of the earth was an artificial construct created by an ancient race known as the Magratheans in order to compute the answer to "life, the universe and everything”. The answer was 42. When earth was destroyed, it had been nearing completion of the calculation of the question which had to be asked because the answer was too vague. Then, they discover that it was not Magratheans who designed earth to answer the ultimate question, but mice. Mice are apparently really multi-dimensional beings of great intelligence who contracted the Magratheans. The mice, upset at the destruction of their computer, question Arthur and contemplate dissecting him in hopes of finding the information. In the end, they agree to lie and make up their own question. Zaphod then suggests they eat at a restaurant located at the end of the universe.