The Last Man recap

In a republican England of the late twenty-first century, the orphan Lionel Verney is befriended by Adrian, son of the last king. Lionel marries Adrian's sister Idris, while the soldier-statesman Raymond marries Lionel's sister Perdita. Raymond later returns to war in Greece and dies at Constantinople; Perdita then takes her own life. A plague spreading from the east reaches Europe and defeats every political, religious, and scientific response. Adrian leads a shrinking group out of England, while death strips Lionel of Idris, their children, and nearly every companion. The refugees cross France and Switzerland into Italy, but continue to die. At last only Lionel, Adrian, and Raymond's daughter Clara remain. A storm wrecks their boat and kills Adrian and Clara. Alone in Rome in 2100, Lionel records the end of humanity as he knows it, then sails away with a dog and a store of books to search for other survivors.

The narrator introduces a manuscript presented as a prophetic record of the future. In republican England, Lionel Verney and his sister Perdita grow up in poverty after their father's death. Their father had lost the favor of England's last king, and Lionel resents the royal family he blames for their hardship. Adrian, the late king's humane and scholarly son, comes to Cumberland, learns who Lionel is, and answers hostility with friendship. He educates Lionel and brings the isolated siblings into his circle. Lionel also meets Adrian's sister Idris and begins to love her, despite opposition from their mother, the former queen. The celebrated soldier Raymond returns from fighting for Greek independence. His fame, political ambition, and personal ties to both Idris and the exiled Greek princess Evadne place him at the center of the group's shifting relationships.

Raymond abandons the dynastic future imagined for him and marries Perdita, while Lionel and Idris also marry. The friends enjoy a period of domestic happiness and raise children together. Raymond enters national politics and becomes Protector of England, but the discipline of office conflicts with his desire for distinction and freedom. Evadne, living anonymously after losing her position and wealth, remains tied to him. Suspicion surrounding their renewed contact wounds Perdita and helps end Raymond's political career. Raymond eventually leaves England to fight again in Greece. Adrian, whose idealism has survived private disappointment and political conflict, remains the moral center of the extended family.

Lionel and Perdita follow Raymond to Greece. Evadne, disguised as a soldier, is mortally wounded and dies after warning of disaster. Raymond enters plague-stricken Constantinople after its defenders withdraw and is killed when the city erupts in fire and destruction. Perdita preserves his memory with consuming devotion. During the voyage back to England, Lionel secretly arranges for Raymond's remains to be left in Greece rather than carried onward as she wishes. When Perdita discovers this, she disappears from the ship and drowns herself. Lionel returns with Raymond's daughter Clara, who joins his household with Idris and their sons. Meanwhile, reports of a contagious disease spreading out of Asia grow more alarming. War and politics continue for a time, but the plague begins moving into Europe on a scale no government can control.

The plague reaches England after devastating other nations. Weather, hunger, fear, and mass displacement accompany the disease, while medicine provides no dependable protection. Political authority disintegrates: leaders who once competed for office can neither reassure the population nor preserve ordinary institutions. Adrian gives practical aid and persuades survivors to cooperate, and Lionel repeatedly risks exposure while helping others. The principal families leave their homes as London and the countryside empty. Merrival's faith in civilization and scientific continuity is overtaken by personal loss. Lionel's own household also begins to shrink. Idris, already exhausted by flight and grief, dies on the journey, leaving Lionel to care for the remaining children as Adrian guides the diminishing community toward the coast.

Adrian leads the English survivors across the Channel in hope that movement, warmer climates, or contact with other communities may offer safety. France is fractured by fear and by a religious leader who claims supernatural protection for his followers. Adrian opposes deception without abandoning the deceived, and the groups are eventually brought together. The emigrants continue south through a Europe of deserted cities and failing supplies. Disease and accident reduce them at every stage, including the children Lionel has tried to protect. By the time the survivors reach Switzerland and then Italy, plans for rebuilding society have given way to the immediate work of keeping a few companions alive. Lionel, Adrian, and Clara emerge as the final members of their group.

Lionel, Adrian, and Clara travel through an emptied Italy and search unsuccessfully for signs of other people. They decide to continue by water, still hoping that isolated survivors exist beyond the places already explored. A violent storm wrecks their boat. Lionel reaches land, but Adrian and Clara drown, leaving him entirely alone. He searches from city to city, calls out in abandoned streets, and posts messages for anyone who may follow. No answer comes. In Rome in 2100, Lionel writes the history of his lost companions and of the plague that erased the society around them. He considers the accumulated art and knowledge of humanity but refuses to remain passively among its ruins. Taking books, provisions, and a sheepdog, he boards a small vessel and sets out to search the wider world for another human being, uncertain whether he is truly the last.

The surviving emigrants dwindle until Lionel, Adrian, and Clara are the last three members of their English community. They reach Italy and find its cities empty. Hoping that some people may remain elsewhere, they set out by boat, but a storm wrecks the vessel. Adrian and Clara drown, while Lionel alone reaches shore. He searches the Italian towns and leaves written notices for any survivor, but receives no answer. In Rome in the year 2100, surrounded by the records and monuments of a vanished civilization, he accepts that he may be the last human alive. Refusing simply to wait for death, he gathers books and supplies and leaves with a sheepdog as his companion. He plans to sail around the Mediterranean and beyond in search of another person, ending his chronicle without knowing whether anyone remains to find it.