A scientist travels to a space station orbiting Jupiter to try and figure out why the technology linking a human to a rudimentary, genetically-engineered form on the planet's surface. Over the course of his stay, he tries to figure out the nature of the relationship between the minds of the Jovian being and the human.

A group of elite, highly-educated friends grapple with their interpersonal issues in 1960s New York, struggling when even their intense academic attempts to understand life fail to help them sort out their relationships with one another.