Soraya leaves Rashid for Mr. Sengupta, leaving a note blaming Rashid's head full of make-believe.

Rashid stands before a crowd and, for the first time in his life, cannot think of a story.

Haroun catches a water genie named Iff in his room, holding a tool called the Disconnector.

Haroun and Iff fly on the mechanical bird Butt the Hoopoe to Kahani, a second hidden moon of Earth.

Haroun drinks from the Ocean of Stories and experiences a corrupted tale full of poison and danger.

The Plentimaw fishes Bagha and Goopy warn that the Wellspring in the southern Old Zone may be poisoned.

Rashid is escorted into Gup City under guard after being found wandering the Twilight Strip as a suspected spy.

Rashid tells Gup's leaders that he witnessed Chupwalas kidnapping Princess Batcheat and offers to guide the army.

Haroun volunteers to travel to the Old Zone and investigate Khattam-Shud's plan to destroy the Wellspring.

Shadow beings drag Haroun and his companions into a net and bring them aboard Khattam-Shud's massive dark ship.

Khattam-Shud reveals underground Poison Blenders and a giant Plug he plans to use to seal the Wellspring forever.

Haroun drinks Wishwater and wishes for the sun to rise, melting Khattam-Shud's dark ship and saving the Ocean.

The idol of Bezaban topples from its tower during an earthquake and lands on Khattam-Shud, killing him.

The Walrus grants Haroun one wish, and Haroun asks for his sad, nameless city to become happy again.

Soraya returns to Rashid, and a policeman tells Haroun the city has finally remembered its name: Kahani.

When Haroun's mother abandons his father Rashid, the celebrated storyteller loses his ability to tell stories, threatening his livelihood and identity. Haroun travels to Kahani, a secret moon of Earth, where he discovers that the Ocean of Stories — the source of all creativity — is being poisoned by the evil ruler Khattam-Shud. After Rashid is found in the Twilight Strip and brought to Gup City, he provides intelligence that leads to a war against Chup and a mission to destroy Khattam-Shud's machinery in the Old Zone. Haroun uses a bottle of Wishwater to wish for the sun to rise, melting Khattam-Shud's dark ship and saving the Wellspring of Stories. The physical Khattam-Shud is then crushed by the idol of Bezaban during the battle for Chup City. With the Walrus granting him one final wish, Haroun restores happiness to his city, and his family is made whole again.

Haroun's quest to restore his father's gift and defeat Khattam-Shud.

Haroun discovers he cannot concentrate for more than 11 minutes and connects this to the moment his mother left.

Haroun tells his grieving father that stories are pointless if they aren't true, words he immediately regrets.

Butt the mail coach driver races Haroun and Rashid dangerously through the Mountains of M to catch the sunset.

Mr. Buttoo escorts Haroun and Rashid across the Dull Lake aboard a boat shaped like a swan.

Haroun explores a houseboat library that Mr. Buttoo calls the Ocean of the Streams of Story.

Haroun chooses a tiny Hoopoe bird from the mythical creatures walking across Iff's open palm.

Iff gives Haroun a bottle and directs him to fill it from a glowing Wishwater pool in the Deep North.

Haroun drinks the Wishwater and wishes for his mother's return, but loses all concentration after exactly 11 minutes.

Mali the Floating Gardener materializes near Gup City as a lilac-colored, man-shaped mass moving alongside the boat.

Haroun bumps into Blabbermouth in a palace corridor, knocking off a hat and revealing long hidden hair.

Blabbermouth juggles golden balls on the palace roof and tells Haroun that juggling is a form of storytelling.

The Guppee armada departs for Chup while Pages argue loudly among themselves about rank and marching order.

Mudra's shadow speaks independently and explains that shadows in Kahani are equal beings, not mere reflections.

Chupwalas aboard the dark ship unscrew the top of Butt the Hoopoe's head and remove his brain.

Workers at the Gup Service Station repair Butt the Hoopoe by removing glitches from his circuitry after the battle.

Before the adventure begins, Haroun notices his concentration has broken into fragments of exactly eleven minutes — a problem he links to his mother's departure. The journey to Kahani begins with a reckless mail coach ride, a boat crossing of the Dull Lake, and a discovery of a houseboat library that foreshadows the Ocean of Stories. Once on Kahani, Haroun is introduced to the magical companions who will guide him, including the Floating Gardener Mali and the Plentimaw fishes. Inside Gup City's palace, a chance collision exposes Blabbermouth's secret identity as a girl disguised among the Pages, and her juggling display reframes Haroun's understanding of his father's craft. The adventure's final stages bring both peril and resolution: Butt the Hoopoe is literally disassembled by Chupwalas before being fully restored after victory.

The journey to Kahani and the key encounters along the way.

Mr. Sengupta challenges Rashid by asking what the point of stories is if they aren't even true.

Two political men threaten to cut out Rashid's tongue if he fails to perform in the Valley of K.

On the bus, Rashid describes an enemy called Khattam-Shud to Haroun as the Arch-Enemy of all stories and language.

A dark mist engulfs the Dull Lake and Haroun realizes the water and land respond physically to people's emotions.

Iff tells Haroun that giving something a name is a way of bringing it into existence.

Hundreds of mechanical water genies riding birds fill the sky as Haroun and Iff approach Gup City.

Gup City formally declares war on Chup after Rashid confirms Princess Batcheat was kidnapped by Chupwalas.

Blabbermouth steals the Disconnector from Haroun while he sleeps and warns him the quest is not his burden.

Haroun spots a Chupwala warrior sword-fighting against his own autonomous shadow at the edge of the dark land.

Mudra reveals he is Khattam-Shud's former champion warrior who has turned against the Cultmaster and his Silence Laws.

Khattam-Shud transforms into a hundred-foot monster with a hundred heads when Haroun accuses him of being Mr. Sengupta.

Mali escapes capture by going limp and pretending to be vegetation, then secretly destroys the dark ship's generator.

A Chupwala ambassador adds a hidden bomb to a juggling act, and Blabbermouth grabs it and hurls it to safety.

Mudra becomes the new leader of Chup and abolishes the Silence Laws and the boundary between night and day.

Haroun wakes in his bed to find the entire adventure took only one night, and his stopped clock is moving again.

The seeds of the adventure are planted when Mr. Sengupta dismisses the value of fiction and political men threaten Rashid's livelihood, raising the stakes of storytelling from a personal to a mortal concern. Haroun's early journey surfaces strange revelations — a landscape that physically responds to emotion, and a water genie who explains that naming things is a way of creating them. Once inside Gup City's palace, hidden truths keep emerging: Blabbermouth is secretly a girl, and Khattam-Shud has split from his own shadow to operate in two places at once. Confrontations with Khattam-Shud and his former lieutenant Mudra reveal the full horror of the Silence Laws and the depth of dissent within Chup. After the battle, the world is remade — Mudra abolishes the Silence Laws and Haroun wakes to find the entire adventure has fit into a single night, his broken clock ticking once more.