Roadside Picnic (1972) is a science-fiction novel by the Soviet-Russian authors Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky. Upon the release of its first English translation in 1977, Roadside Picnic earned runner-up for the John W. Campbell Award honoring the best science-fiction novel of the year. Over the years, the book’s storyline and concepts have been a source of inspiration across a wide range of media—most famously, the 1979 film Stalker. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and written by the Strugatskys themselves, the British Film Institute selected Stalker as the 29th greatest film of all time. This study guide refers to the 2012 edition published by Chicago Review Press and translated by Olena Bormashenko.

Plot Summary

Thirteen years prior, extraterrestrials visit Earth but depart before making contact with humanity. Across six Visit Zones around the globe, the aliens leave behind a series of mysterious artifacts. These artifacts attract criminal smugglers known as “stalkers” who sneak into the Zones and sell the goods on the black market. Such work is extremely perilous as the zones contain many dangers, including gravitational anomalies capable of crushing individuals; hell slime that burns through flesh and bone; and invisible grinders that twist human beings to death like wet dishrags.

The book’s protagonist is Redrick Schuhart, a 23-year-old lab assistant for the International Institute for Extraterrestrial Cultures. Redrick lives and works in the fictional Canadian city of Harmont, which surrounds one of the six Zones. Two years ago, Redrick served a six-month prison sentence for smuggling Zone artifacts, and while he has successfully evaded authorities ever since, he still moonlights as a stalker.

One day, Redrick accompanies his boss, the brilliant Russian scientist Kirill Panov, into the Zone to retrieve a very rare artifact of great scientific interest to Kirill. During the trip, Redrick sees nothing suspicious aside from a silvery cobweb-shaped substance ,which Kirill inadvertently touches. Shortly after they return, Kirill dies of a sudden heart attack. Tormented by this experience, Redrick quits the Institute and returns to his illicit work as a stalker on a fulltime basis.

Five years pass, and Redrick now lives with his wife Guta and their daughter Maria, whom they’ve nicknamed “The Monkey.” Children of stalkers tend to suffer a range of genetic mutations, and although a happy and intelligent child, the Monkey has completely black pupils and a layer of yellow fur covering her body.

A wealthy client named Raspy tasks Redrick with retrieving a vial of deadly hell slime from the Zone. Accompanying Redrick into the Zone is Vulture Burbridge, an aging stalker with a reputation for treachery. During the trip, Vulture accidentally steps in a puddle of hell slime. Vulture begs Redrick not to abandon him, promising to reveal the location of the Golden Sphere, a legendary Zone artifact rumored to grant wishes. Redrick manages to deliver him to a doctor, but not before the Vulture loses both of his legs below the knee.

Although Redrick claims that he was unable to retrieve the hell slime, Raspy still pays Redrick handsomely for various other recovered artifacts. Later that day, authorities seize Redrick, finding wads of cash and Zone artifacts on his person. After a daring escape, Redrick calls Raspy and tells him he managed to retrieve a vial of hell slime but lied because he fears the hell slime will be sold to governments or arms manufacturers. He tells Raspy where he’s hidden the slime and instructs the man to give all the proceeds from the sale to Guta.

When Redrick is released from prison after three years, he and his family finally have enough money from the hell slime sale for Redrick to never enter the Zone again. However, the Monkey’s psychological condition has deteriorated to the point where she exists in an animalistic state. As a result, Redrick agrees to participate in a scheme to airlift the Golden Sphere out of the Zone with the hope that he can use the Sphere to wish for his daughter’s humanity back.

To reach the Golden Sphere, one must pass a “grinder” that kills anyone who comes near it before disengaging. A human sacrifice is needed to successfully pass the grinder, so Redrick plans to use Vulture’s adult son Arthur. After Redrick and Arthur barely survive a gauntlet of deadly gravitational and meteorological anomalies, Arthur runs toward the Golden Sphere, shouting out a selfless and altruistic wish: “Happiness for everyone! Free! As much happiness as you want!” Seconds later, an invisible force violently lifts Arthur into the air, killing him. Redrick then approaches the Golden Sphere to wish for the Monkey to become human again. However, he finds himself unable to think of anything to say other than to repeat Arthur’s wish.