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Arthur Dent as played by Martin Freeman in the movie
Arthur Dent in the 1981 BBC TV Series
Arthur Philip Dent is a human being from the late planet Earth. Arthur was lucky to escape his planet's destruction at the hands of the Vogons thanks to his friend Ford Prefect. Since that time Arthur has been rather out of his depth in the series of absurd events that have taken place around him. He was central to the search for the Ultimate Question. His words have caused entire civilisations to be eaten by small dogs. Beings have sought to kill him through multiple reincarnations. He has been to the end of the Universe, seen the last words of God and turned into a penguin. Yet through all his adventures outside the planet Earth Arthur has yet to find a really good cup of tea.
Life on Earth
The early part of Arthur Dent's life was particularly unimpressive. He worked in local radio which sounded a lot more interesting than it actually was. He met relatively few women, and those he did meet he single handedly failed to cop off with. Perhaps the most interesting thing in Arthur's life occurred approximately twelve minutes before the extinction of the Earth when the local council decided to bulldozer Arthur's house to the ground.
Whilst lying in the mud in front of a bulldozer being shouted at by a direct descendent of Genghis Khan his close friend Ford Prefect, who in actual fact was an alien from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, somehow managed to convince him to go to the pub. And from there the two of them managed to escape the destruction of the Earth by hitching a ride on one of the Vogon ships sent to destroy the Earth.
From Earth to Magrathea
Vogons, as I'm sure you're aware, do not take kindly to hitchhikers. Arthur and Ford were quickly discovered and thrown out of an airlock; this came as somewhat of a relief because it no longer meant they had to listen to Vogon poetry. Luckily they were picked up by the Heart of Gold as it passed nearby. There Arthur met the rest of his future travelling companions, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian (one of the aforementioned girls Arthur single handidly failed to cop off with), and Marvin. Despite being saved from the vacuum of space people were still trying to kill Arthur, mainly due to the fact that Zaphod had rather arrogantly stolen the ship they were travelling in. Somehow managing to avoid the Vogons and psychiatrists after them they happened upon the legendary planet of Magrathea, coincidentally where the Earth was originally constructed.
Mice, Restaurants and Back to the Earth
Arthur soon found out the true purpose of the planet Earth whilst on Magrathea; it was in fact a giant computer designed to calculate the Ultimate Question. What shocked Arthur even more was that he discovered mice were more intelligent than him. Plus more psychotic; they want to remove his brain. Escaping from Magrathea to the Heart of Gold Arthur soon found more people trying to kill him, and his attempts to find a cup of tea to calm his nerves really didn't help matters.
After spending some time in Zaphod's pocket due to dangerous infinite improbability physics and mucking around in virtual universes Arthur and co. ended up at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Which was probably a good thing as being shot at and having mice threaten to vivisect you can really build up an appetite. After dinner they all left the restaurant in Hotblack Desiato's spaceship. Which unfortunately was programmed to crash into a rather hot sun.
The emergency teleporter was their only means of escape. Ford and Arthur rematerialised on a ship owned by the Golgafrinchans. This ship was also programmed to crash; the target was slightly less hot though. The ship soon ploughed into the planet known as Earth, two million years before Arthur was born.
Prehistoric Earth and Krikkit
Eight years pass on this prehistoric Earth before Ford, who had parted company with Arthur 4 years previously, reappears and pulls Arthur through an eddy in the space-continuum. The pair reappear at Lords Cricket Ground, two days before the scheduled demolition of the Earth by the Vogons. A Krikkit warship lands while they are there and steal The Ashes. Slartibartfast arrives too late to stop the violence but asks Ford and Arthur to help him.
Arthur learns the history of Krikkit on Slartibartfast's ship, which is powered by the Bistromathic Drive, and they go off in pursuit of the Krikkit warship which is trying to piece together the Wikkit Gate and unlock their planet from the Slo-Time envelope.
During the pursuit Arthur is diverted to a cave and confronted with a creature called Agrajag. Agrajag claims that Arthur has killed him hundreds of times in various reincarnations. He also realizes, however, he's brought Arthur to him too soon as Arthur has not yet been to Stavromula Beta. He attempts to kill Arthur anyway and suffers yet another accidental death at Arthur's hands. While fleeing from the collapsing cave Arthur discovers the knack of flying (being able to throw yourself at the ground and miss) and ends up at a party where he finds Ford and Slartibartfast.
The group completely fails to stop the Krikkit war party from reconstructing the Key and opening the envelope. The Krikkit fighters are set free but their plans to destroy the universe are thwarted. Arthur then returns The Ashes to Lords and has the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of bowling a ball there.
And at the end they traveled again.
Back to Earth and God's final message
Arthur mysteriously finds his way back to a seemingly reconstructed Earth, where only 6-8 months seems to have passed in what's been about 8 years to Arthur. He manages to hitch a lift with a man named Russell, who he soon finds out he doesn't like much. He does however like the woman passed out in the back of the car, known to her brother Russell as Fenny. Arthur is dropped off at the pub and soon returns to his old home.
At home Arthur discovers a decorative fishbowl inscribed with the words "So Long, and Thanks." Unable to get to sleep, he climbs up onto his roof, where he feels a mysterious connection to the world around him: to the trees, the sheep, and the minds of the people, one of which is fractured - he instinctively knows it is Fenny, but is unable to pinpoint her.
Two months later, Arthur sees Fenny hitchhiking and picks her up. They talk uncomfortably, with bumbling Arthur unable to explain how he knows her already or why he wants to see her again, but in the end gets Fenchurch's phone number on the back of a raffle ticket before she leaves. Unfortunately this is a winning ticket and Arthur gives it up, forgetting about the phone number.
Arthur manages to find Fenchurch in Islington when he decides to locate where his cave on the prehistoric Earth was. A relationship begins between the two and he learns from her that at the same time the Earth was "destroyed", all the dolphins in the world disappeared without a trace.
Arthur and Fenchurch travel to California to meet Wonko the Sane, a scientist who claims to know why the dolphins disappeared. Wonko says that the fishbowls, which he and Fenchurch also have, are farewell gifts from the dolphins. The final message heard when a fishbowl is put to the ear is "This bowl was brought to you by the Campaign to Save the Humans. We bid you farewell."
They decide to try and leave the Earth to see God's Final Message to His Creation, the address of which he was given in the previous book in the series by Prak. They manage to steal a visiting flying saucer and find the planet where God's Final Message to His Creation is located. Here they meet a dying Marvin and help him to read the message, which turns out to be "WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE". Marvin actually likes it, and then dies happily.
To Lamuella and back to Earth (again)
Fenchurch has apparently disappeared from the face of the universe as a hyperspace travel casualty. After the loss of Fenchurch and wallowing in despair, Arthur spends most of his time searching for meaning, traveling from world to world trying to find somewhere he fits in. Arthur eventually finds a life that he enjoys when his ship crashes on a planet called Lamuella and after making a simple sandwich for himself, he is suddenly revered as a holy celebrity: the Sandwich Maker.
Shortly after, Trillian shows up with a girl named Random who is left to Arthur's care after Trillian explains to him that it is his own biological daughter. Random is cranky and unruly, continually breaks Arthur's possessions, and has a major identity crisis.
Arthur receives a parcel, the Guide 2.0. He puts it away, not wanting anything to do with it, but Random, being frustrated with her irresponsible mother for dumping her with Arthur, steals it and runs away from home. Random finds out that the Guide 2.0 is both omnipotent and omniscient, and uses its strange abilities, so that she can steal Ford's ship, and travel to the alternate Earth, with Ford and Arthur in pursuit.
Ford and Arthur arrive on Earth with a confused Tricia (not Trillian) being yelled at by Random. Ford and Arthur meet Tricia at a bar named Stavro Mueller Beta, at the same time that Trillian turns up. While en route, Random took a gun that was on the ship she stole from Ford. After waving it around, she accidentally fires it. Arthur ducks, and the shot hits the man standing behind him, the owner of the bar. The man is Stavro Mueller, and Arthur realizes that this is the final form of Agrajag; Arthur also realizes that Stavromula Beta really is the bar "Stavro Mueller Beta", and therefore his death is an open possibility. Then, the shadow of the Vogon fleet slowly descends upon Earth. With nowhere to run, Arthur accepts his fate. It should be noted that the Vogons are not actually the ones to destroy the Earth, they are just there to make sure it happens. It is really the result of the Grebulons, who in their confusion decided that they needed to use the gun turrets that they had.
This fulfills the promise made at the very start of the series that the fates of Arthur and the Guide are intertwined.