The Martians attack England in cylinders that release tripod-walking war machines. Despite initial losses by the British army, the narrator evades the Martians and meets others fleeing the invasion. He learns the Martians feed on blood and use advanced weapons. After the Martians leave, the narrator finds the world changed with their vegetation overgrowing the destroyed landscape. He discovers the Martians all died from Earth's bacteria, and humans can now reflect on how the invasion challenged their assumptions.

1. The War of the Worlds Summary
Fasten your seatbelt, folks, because the plot of War of the
Worlds can be a little bumpy. Wells' narrator jumps from talking
about the whole world, to talking about himself, to talking about
what his brother's been up to. Don't say we didn't warn you.
The book starts with the narrator mentioning that the people of
Earth never expected Martians to attack (understandable). Then
Martian cylinders come crashing down into the English countryside.
The cylinders open, revealing Martians that don't move so well –
that is, until they build their tank-like tripods and go striding around
the countryside on those, burning everything in sight with their
Heat-Rays (patent pending).
The narrator runs and hides. He gets his wife away from the
Martians… but then goes back towards the Martians. Why would he
do that? Well, because a) he has to return the cart-and-horse he
used to get out of town and b) he wants to see the British army
crush the Martians. Also, possibly because c) he's not so smart.
At this point, the British army is fighting the Martians and losing
badly: the British have managed to destroy one Martian tripod,
while the Martians have been going to town on the British. When
the narrator realizes how deadly the Martians are, he runs and
hides in his house, where he meets an artilleryman. They travel
together a little, but the narrator loses track of the artilleryman
during another Martian attack.
After escaping the Martians (again), the narrator meets a curate.
The narrator and the curate travel together, even though the
narrator starts to be bothered by the guy. The Martians also start
using their second major weapon, the Black Smoke (also patent
pending).

2. Meanwhile, the narrator's brother is in London, so we get to hear all
about how things went over there too. At first, people in London
worried about the Martians because they didn't realize how
powerful the Martians were. Then, later, the Londoners hear that
the Martians are advancing on the city, so they all evacuates. On
his way out, the brother meets up with two women, Mrs. and Miss
Elphinstone, and the three of them escape together. They reach the
coast and get a spot on a boat that's going to Ostend. While their
boat is shipping out, the Martians attack, but the English navy
destroys two of the Martians' tripods.
The narrator and the curate are trapped in a house for a few days
because there are Martians camped outside the house. The two
men grow to hate each other. The narrator observes the Martians
and discovers a lot about them. For example, the Martians survive
off of blood (hence, the delight of going after humans). Eventually,
the Martians catch the curate, who has been knocked out by the
narrator.
Several days later, after the Martians leave the general area, the
narrator comes out of his hole in the ground. He discovers that the
world is stranger than he left it – it's largely destroyed and covered
in a red Martian weed.
The narrator runs into the artilleryman, who tells the narrator all
about his plan for a new lifestyle: living underground, playing
cricket, and killing Martians occasionally. The narrator is very
impressed by this plan and wants to subscribe to the artilleryman's
newsletter. However, while the artilleryman talks the talk, he doesn't
walk the walk, so the narrator leaves him. No cricket for them.
The narrator makes his way to London, which he discovers is a
mess. (Probably soccer hooligans.) He eventually discovers that the

3. Martians are all dead – they died from some bacteria or disease
that humans are immune to. He finds his wife again and thinks
about how the Martian invasion has made people rethink some of
the things they thought they knew.