Although the search and the message are the unifying background of the novel, the chapters explore the personal effect of these events have on the lives of the characters.

Each of the "Computer" chapters represents material the supercomputer collects in its attempts to better translate and understand the alien message it is receiving.

It is the year 2025, and many world problems (such as overpopulation, economic depression, resource depletion, racism, and crime) are on the verge of being solved.

That night, as Thomas visits the MacDonald household, The Project receives a message from the region of the star Capella in the constellation Auriga.

The message is badly degraded by static, but appears to be early radio and audio-only television signals beamed back at the Earth from an alien race.

MacDonald reveals to Jeremiah that the static noise in the message included short bursts of pure sound ("dots"), similar to Morse code, but no "dashes."

MacDonald translates the encoded message for the first time in front of the Solitarian minister: The dots and silences are meant to be printed out.

White flies to Puerto Rico with his son, John, an idealistic 20-year-old who believes that racism and the world's problems cannot return.

Solitarian riots break out across the United States over the next several hours as people begin to fear alien invasion.

MacDonald tells President White that he can calm the rioters by revealing that the Capellans are dying, and that it will take 90 years for a message to reach Capella and return.

White agrees to issue "The Answer" and to begin a propaganda campaign to counter the fear raised by Jeremiah's announcement.

Bobby discovers that The Project's massive computer has been recording all the conversations in the control room for the past 75 years, and White plays snippets of these conversations for Bobby: The reaction to "The Message," President White's discussions with MacDonald, Jeremiah's visit to MacDonald's memorial service, and much more.

Bobby, who has earned degrees in electrical engineering and computer programming, comes to terms with his father's absent parenting, and agrees to join The Project as it waits for The Reply.

As the "Day of Reply" nears, the entire world becomes excited, and musical compositions, motion pictures, plays, and philosophical discussions are presented worldwide.

[6] The short stories were inspired by Walter S. Sullivan's book We Are Not Alone, which documented then-nascent efforts to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) using radio telescopes.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Chief Historian Steven J. Dick has called the novel the "classic expression" of contact with extraterrestrial life in fiction.

[8] Along with such writers as Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Sagan, Gunn has been called one of the chief contributors to the subgenre of science fiction which deals with alien first contact.