The year is 10191, the beginning of a very delicate time. The known universe is ruled by Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice melange. The spice extends life, the spice expands consciousness, the spice is vital to space travel. The Spacing Guild and its navigators, who the spice has mutated over four thousand years, use the orange spice gas which gives them the ability to fold space. That is travel to any part of the universe without moving (see lightspeed travel in Dune for more details). This spice is only produced on one planet: Arrakis (better known as Dune). On this desert planet, sandtrout block all water flows to the surface, eventually becoming giant sandworms which roam the planet of Arrakis while producing spice.

Dune tells the story of the fight over the planet of Arrakis between the two Great Houses of the Atreides and Harkonnen. In the third book of the series, the son of Paul Atreides, Leto II, clothes himself in the sandtrout (baby sandworms) that roam Arrakis' dunes. This becomes his second skin, making him invulnerable to lasgun beams on most parts of his body and giving him amazing strength. The price of all this is that he is slowly becoming a giant sandworm. He does this so that humanity can follow his "golden path" for the four hundred thousand years that he lives. The fourth book in the series, God Emperor of Dune, takes place somewhere in the middle of the reign of Leto II. It tells of how the Ixians create a human being genetically engineered to attract him. This, coupled with the troubles from a band of rebels, brings down his reign and leaves the golden path in ashes. What will become of humankind now?