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At the opening of the book, the narrator is planning to write a book describing what important people were doing when Hiroshima was bombed. While researching this topic, the narrator becomes involved with the children of Felix Hoenikker, the fictional Nobel laureate physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb. As the novel progresses, the narrator learns of a substance called ice-nine, created by the late Hoenikker and now in the possession of his children. Ice-nine is an alternative structure of water that is solid at room temperature. When ice-nine is brought into contact with liquid water, it arranges the molecules of the liquid water into ice-nine.
The narrator and the Hoenikker children eventually end up on the fictional Caribbean island of San Lorenzo, where a plane crash causes ice-nine to come into contact with the ocean, at which point all the water in the world turns into ice-nine, causing the vast majority of life on Earth to perish.
The book has anti-war and anti-science themes.
The book also describes an imaginary religion, Bokononism, together with several concepts that are central to it. Amongst these are:
In Vonnegut's own words: (from Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons)
Perhaps tired of what other religions have to offer, a number of people have professed themselves to be Bokononists.
The title of the book derives from the string game " cat's cradle." Early in the book, we learn that Felix Hoenikker was playing cat's cradle when the atom bomb was dropped. The game is later referenced by Newt Hoenikker, Felix's midget son.
Note: Vonnegut's fictional ice-nine is not to be confused with the real substance Ice IX (also pronounced "ice-nine"), which does not have the properties of Vonnegut's fictional ice-nine. See the article on ice for more details.
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