The story begins in Ilium, New York, an industrial city divided into three sections. On one side of the city, managers and people do their work; on the other, machines work. To the south, the people live. This is one of many Iliums in the country. It is ten years after the Third WorldWar.

Paul Proteus, whose father was a famous politician, is the 35-year-old manager of the Ilium. His secretary, Katherine, informs him that there’s again an issue with machine three in Building 58. Paul comes into her office to read the stacks of meters: “Each was connected to a group of machines somewhere in the Works” (4). Katherine’s boyfriend and Ilium engineer, Bud, seems bored, so Paul gives him the task of building an electronic mouse-finding device for Paul’s cat.

Along with his cat, Paul goes down to Building 58, an aging machine works that was previously used by Edison. Paul has a fondness for the history of the building. He discovers the machine that was the source of the issue and realizes that there is no fix for it. The machine was one of the first that he, along with Finnerty and Shepard, wrote the tape for.