On the mining ship Red Dwarf, slobbish slacker Dave Lister dreams of a life in Fiji away from his annoying bunkmate Arnold Rimmer. When he's placed in suspended animation, he wakes up 3 million years later to find the entire crew are dead.

Holly navigates Red Dwarf during light speed. But when Red Dwarf goes through light speed 24-hours early, the crew witnesses strange events and they find they are witnessing "Future Echoes" images of events that will happen in the future.

Lister learns he is the mythical god of Cat's people known as "Cloister the stupid" and Red Dwarf stumbles upon a Red Dwarf garbage capsule and Rimmer thinks it's a stasis capsule carrying a dormant alien woman.

Lister falls ill after entering a contaminated area of Red Dwarf trying to find Kochanski's hologram disc which Rimmer has hidden. But Red Dwarf has two unwelcome guests on-board, Lister's Confidence and Paranoia.