The protagonist of the story is Maddie Pace, a timid and indecisive young woman who lives on a small island named Gennesault (or "Jenny"), off the coast of Maine.
The source of the phenomenon is eventually traced to "Star Wormwood", a bizarre alien construct orbiting above the ozone layer at the Earth's South Pole.
Frank Daggett, the elderly man who did most of the organizing of the successful defense, suffers a fatal heart attack and has himself blasted to pieces so he won't reanimate.
"Home Delivery" has been adapted by artist Glenn Chadbourne for the book The Secretary of Dreams, a collection of comics based on King's short fiction released by Cemetery Dance in December 2006.
In September 2009, the story was optioned as a theatrical release and was in pre-production, with John and Paul Buckholts, of Our Thing Productions, writing the screenplay and Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamu scheduled to direct.