When Bill Masen awakes blindfolded in hospital and carefully removes his bandages, he realises he is one of the few who can see; almost everyone else has been blinded by a meteor shower. Now, with civilization in chaos, the triffids - huge, venomous, plants able to 'walk', feeding on human flesh - can have their day. This stark vision of a desolate world infested by deadly, monstrous plants has lost none of its power to horrify.