Upon being notified of her acceptance, Binti runs away from home and boards a transport ship to Oomza Uni.
While in transit, the ship is hijacked by the Meduse, a jellyfish-like alien species that was previously at war with the Khoush, another human ethnic group.
She subsequently discovers that a piece of ancient technology she had brought with her from Earth, referred to as her edan, enables direct communication with the Meduse, and that her otjize, a type of mixed clay made from the soil of her homeland, has healing properties when applied to the tentacles of the Meduse.
Upon arrival at the university, she is able to negotiate a short lasting peace between the Meduse and the human race, after which she begins her studies at Oomza Uni in earnest.
Travelling into the desert, she meets her father's disavowed relatives and under their guidance confronts intra-tribal prejudice and undergoes her second profound physical transformation.