Anansi Boys

Fat Charlie searches the island for Mrs. Higgler. The hotel concierge tells him the name is common; both he and the receptionist share it. Fat Charlie rents a bicycle and continues exploring. The next day he approaches a large house and rings the doorbell, but there’s no answer. On his way back, a black car nearly hits him, but he swerves away in time. He takes a bus the rest of the way and notices the black car following. Meanwhile, Daisy has just arrived on the island looking for Grahame Coats.

Spider wakes to find himself tied to stakes in the ground. He meets Maeve, who tries to help him but is unable to touch anything. She explains that she’s remaining until she takes revenge on the man who killed her. She disappears, and Spider considers Rosie’s story about the raven saving the man from a mountain lion. He realizes the raven was really trying to alert the mountain lion to the man’s presence. He considers his surroundings and finds he can hear Rosie and her mother speaking in Grahame Coats’s house. Everything else is a silence that tells him Tiger is on his way.

Grahame Coats becomes increasingly paranoid about the appearance of both Rosie and Fat Charlie on the island, concluding that Fat Charlie sent the women as spies. He remembers trying to hit Fat Charlie with his car and failing. He goes to the women and brings them food and supplies, mentioning Fat Charlie’s connection to them. After he leaves, Rosie and Mrs. Noah discuss the animal they’ve been hearing in the dark. Rosie decides that when she’s free, she’ll find Spider. However, she doesn’t really believe she’ll survive. Nearby, Spider builds a ball of dirt using only his facial muscles. He frees his hand and uses it to shape the ball into a spider, and then clumsily gives it a name to bring it to life. The spider goes to get help. Meanwhile, Fat Charlie goes to the hotel restaurant for dinner and encounters Daisy. Rosie and her mother consider their predicament.

Fat Charlie and Daisy have dinner together, each trying to understand the other’s motives. The singer begins to walk through the restaurant, trying to engage the diners. Fat Charlie excuses himself to go to the buffet, avoiding the singer’s eyes. When he returns, Grahame Coats is sitting with Daisy and has a gun pointed at her under the table. He instructs Fat Charlie to sit with them and mentions there are two more at his house. He tells them that they’re all going to go to his house, and Fat Charlie knows he’ll probably kill them both. While Grahame Coats’s talking, Fat Charlie catches the singer’s attention. She comes over to them and starts a conversation, and Fat Charlie tells her he’s a singer. She invites him to come on stage. He joins her and sings “Under the Boardwalk,” feeling comfortable and alive. As the song ends, he asks Daisy to marry him. The audience pulls Daisy safely away from Grahame Coats and she joins him on stage.

Spider attempts to get free from his bonds. He manages to free his hands as Tiger approaches. As Tiger attacks, Spider uses the stake he was tied to as a weapon and fights him off. Tiger leaves and Spider unties his feet. He begins a collection of rocks to use as defense. In Grahame Coats’s house, Rosie and Mrs. Noah talk about Rosie’s father. Rosie attempts to free a meat hook to use as a weapon, and Grahame Coats returns home from his outing at the restaurant. Fat Charlie is being celebrated for his singing and given business cards. He goes to the concierge and the receptionist and determines they’re related to Mrs. Higgler, who arrives a moment later.

Spider is sitting alone when Lion arrives and offers to help. He offers him food and company, but Spider doesn’t trust him. He throws rocks at Lion until he leaves, and then investigates the food he brought, which is rotten. Meanwhile, Fat Charlie and Daisy go to the police; however, the police don’t believe them. After, Fat Charlie gets his feather back from Mrs. Higgler. When he doesn’t know what to do next, he loses his temper with Mrs. Higgler and recounts his struggles. Daisy suggests he trade it for his brother, so Fat Charlie sets up another ritual between Mrs. Higgler, Daisy, the receptionist, and the concierge. They send him to the realm of gods, where he meets Anansi. They talk about Spider and Fat Charlie’s past. Before Fat Charlie leaves, Anansi gives him the green fedora he always wore.

Daisy is frightened and angry that Fat Charlie’s disappeared. She reads the newspaper and discovers two tourists are missing; she then remembers Grahame Coats’s comment about the women at his house. Spider, meanwhile, waits for Tiger’s return. Tiger arrives and taunts him with threats to him and Rosie. Suddenly his dirt spider arrives with an army of spider reinforcements; they attack Tiger and drive him away. After Tiger leaves, Spider sees Fat Charlie approach. Grahame Coats is getting drunk at his house and deciding how to kill Rosie and Mrs. Noah. He tucks several knives into his belt and goes to see them. When he arrives, Rosie uses the meat hook to attack him and Mrs. Noah kicks him, allowing them to escape. They lock him in the storage room and all the lights turn off. Grahame Coats realizes that the knives in his belt cut him as he fell, and he lays down to die. However, Tiger arrives and opens the door for him. Grahame Coats gives Tiger permission to enter his body.

Fat Charlie walks towards Spider but is waylaid by Dragon. He calls fireflies to light his way and introduces himself as “Charlie Nancy.” He tries to dissuade Dragon using magic, then resorts to trickery to scare Dragon away. Charlie continues and sings to himself about finding Bird Woman and Spider. He meets the Bird Woman and attempts to trade her feather back before threatening her, an unfamiliar sensation. She tells him that she’s left Spider with Tiger but gives him Spider’s tongue in exchange for her feather. He finds his way to Spider, traveling between worlds, and returns his tongue; Spider puts it in his mouth and speaks again.

Rosie and Mrs. Noah try to escape, but Tiger comes after them. He bars their escape and Mrs. Noah attacks it to save her daughter. The doorbell rings and Rosie begins to scream when Maeve arrives. She threatens Grahame Coats and belittles him, causing him to retreat. Within his body, he and Tiger argue. She attacks him, and Rosie opens the door to find the police and Daisy waiting. The lights turn back on to reveal Grahame Coats and Mrs. Noah unconscious. Meanwhile, Charlie and Spider travel between worlds and Charlie comes to terms with who he is. Maeve joins her husband in the afterlife.

Charlie wakes in his hotel room. Daisy comes by to tell him about Rosie and Mrs. Noah. After he cleans up, he goes to the hospital and finds Spider waiting. Spider is nervous and doesn’t want to mess things up for Rosie, and Charlie helps him relax. He, Spider, and Daisy go to see Rosie, who’s worried her mother won’t survive. Daisy leads Charlie outside so that Spider and Rosie can make up. Afterwards, Charlie and Spider walk outside, and Charlie tells him he thinks they should try to save Rosie’s mother. They go to the other world and meet the gods. Anansi is there with the others. Charlie introduces himself and sings about his family and the world, and all the gods begin to dance along. Tiger roars at him, and Charlie uses his song to make fun of Tiger’s roar. All the gods laugh at Tiger, and he runs away. Spider uses his magic to seal Tiger in a cave. Charlie sings a long life for Mrs. Noah. He decides he wants to spend his life singing.

Back at the hospital, Rosie announces that her mother will survive. Rosie and Spider begin planning their life together, and Charlie proposes to Daisy properly. In Tiger’s cave, Grahame Coats has taken the form of a stoat and is imprisoned with Tiger. Every time Tiger kills him, he’s resurrected in the same place. In Florida, Anansi is relaxing in his grave beside Mrs. Dunwiddy, whose funeral is being celebrated above. Spider begins setting up a new business to support him and Rosie, and Rosie’s mother takes an unhealthy interest in their sex life so they can give her grandchildren. Charlie becomes a famous singer and walks along the beach, looking for mermaids with his son.