The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: McCarthy Tom. Remainder. New York: Vintage Books, 2007.

The name of the novel’s protagonist is never stated, but he is a man who lives in London, England is about 30 years in age. One day, an unspecified accident befalls him. He awakes after being in a coma, and he undergoes physical therapy to regain motor control. He has no memory of the accident, and he does not ask what the accident was. The unnamed person or group responsible for the accident pays him 8.5 million English pounds as a settlement.

The protagonist tries to decide what to do with his newfound fortune. He notices that his experience of the world has changed following the accident. He feels somewhat alienated from his body, and from the experience of reality in general. One day, he has a sudden feeling of recollection. He recalls an apartment building and certain events/experiences inside it. However, he cannot recall the time or place of this memory, and he realizes that it might be composed—either partially or wholly—of imagined experiences.

The protagonist feels that recreating that vision in real life will help him to feel more real and fulfilled. He hires Nazrul Ram Vyas, a man who manages logistics for a living, and who is employed by a large company called Time Control. Nazrul and Time Control help the protagonist find a building that resembles the one in his vision, and they help him redesign the interior so that it exactly matches his vision. They then hire people to play the people in his vision, such as an old woman and a pianist. They rehearse the reenactment and then run it repeatedly. The protagonist enjoys the feeling that the reenactment gives to him.

The protagonist soon becomes fixated on other events he wishes to reenact, such as a car malfunction at a tire shop, and a fatal street shooting. A doctor examines him out of concern and declares that his behavior is due to trauma from the accident that took place at the beginning of the story. The protagonist ignores the doctor and continues to pursue his reenactments. He oversees the reenactment of a bank robbery, and then he decides that he wishes to reenact the robbery in the actual bank, essentially committing robbery in reality. Nazrul, addicted to the logistical challenges posed by these projects, cooperates.

During the robbery, one of the robber reenactors accidentally shoots and kills one of the others. The protagonist becomes fascinated by this event, and he reenacts it by killing one of the reenactors himself. He flees and boards a plane, feeling deeply excited and fulfilled by these ‘reenactments.’ He then holds the pilot at gunpoint and forces him to fly the plane back and forth along a set linear path, indefinitely, as the pattern and repetition is pleasing to the protagonist.