A radiation leak wipes out the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf, leaving only one survivor – chicken soup machine repair man, Dave Lister. After three million years in suspended animation, Lister emerges to find he is the last human being in the universe. But he is not alone.

When Red Dwarf breaks the speed of light, time dilates, and the crew begin to experience visions from their own future. Sadly for Lister his future appears to include being reduced to his component atoms by a rather large explosion. Happily for Rimmer, Lister's future appears to include being reduced to his component atoms by a rather large explosion.

Rimmer encounters his most dangerous blood chilling challenge ever - Lister is taking the chef's exam. If Lister passes he will hold sufficient rank to have Rimmer replaced as the ship's hologram. Just how low will the universe's most obnoxious dead man stoop to stop him?

Holly, the ship's computer, recovers a strange unidentified pod floating in the frozen wastes of Deep Space. Rimmer is convinced it contains the remains of a long-dead alien warrior, and immediately begins a scientific investigation to decipher the pod's hieroglyphics. Meanwhile, Lister's rather mundane day perks up a little when he discovers he is a God.

Lister contracts a mutated pneumonia virus. The hallucinations of his fevered brain materialise in solid form, and suddenly the ship is beset by herring rain and an exploding 16th-century mayor of Warsaw. When his fever breaks, Lister wakes up to find he has created personifications of his Confidence and Paranoia, and a war of manipulation begins.

Rimmer, the odious hologram, creates his perfect companion - an identical duplicate of himself. He moves out of the quarters he shares with Lister and starts rooming with his doppelganger. At first things are blissful, but the course of true love never runs smoothly, and soon the two Rimmers find themselves locked in a conflict so fierce, only one of them can survive.