Butler begins the novel in medias res, during the "rescue" of the main character, Alanna, from the "Tehkohn," a group of extraterrestrials.

Prior to the main events of the novel, Alanna's parents died saving her from a Clayark attack.

After several years living as a feral child, Alanna was captured by a group of Missionaries, a Christian religious sect dedicated to maintaining humanity as God's chosen form in the face of Clayark and Patternist competition.

Although some of the Missionaries distrusted Alanna, either because of her wild upbringing or because of her African American and Asian ancestry, she adapted quickly, and became the foster daughter of the group's leader, Jules Verrick, and his wife Niela.

Some time later, the Missionaries receive an opportunity to flee Earth on a Patternist starship as part of a program to seed humanity on other planets in order to preserve the species from the Clayark plague.

Although the Kohn had fur, camouflage abilities, and claws, they were broadly humanoid, and the local tribe—the Garkohn—assisted the Missionaries in developing their settlement.

Shortly thereafter, the settlement was raided by the Tehkohn, a rival group of Kohn, and several Garkohn and Missionaries were captured, including Alanna.

Eventually, the story reveals that just as Alanna once altered her behavior to fit in among the Missionaries and "survive," she also was successful in joining the Tehkohn, ultimately marrying their leader, Diut, and bearing a child.

Aware that she will lose the humans' trust if they realize she is in a relationship with a native, Alanna plays a dangerous game, but is ultimately largely successful, leading the Missionaries to trust (reluctantly) the Tehkohn long enough to escape the influence of both native nations with the Tehkohn's help.

Because of his love for Alanna, Diut agrees to assist the Missionaries in escaping to an area where they will be free to set up their own society, rather than capturing them or killing them to prevent the Garkohn from using them.

Alanna, herself a combination of her African American and Asian parents, is placed in a position of having to negotiate with and integrate into three groups: the predominantly white Missionaries, and two groups of Kohn, Canaan natives who are literally "people of color" - who determine their social status and hierarchies primarily through the color of their fur.

Butler called Survivor the least favorite of her works, criticizing its premise as an offensive science fiction cliché:[2]