A radio correspondent based in the fictional Canadian city of Harmont interviews Dr. Valentine Pillman, the most recent recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Thirteen years ago, Harmont became one of six Zones around the world to experience a visitation event from extraterrestrials. While the alien presence departed before making contact with humanity, the extraterrestrials left behind a series of mysterious artifacts in each Visit Zone. Valentine receives his Nobel Prize for discovering that the six Zones’ positioning on the planet resembles bullet holes fired from a gun located between Earth and the Cygnus constellation.

As a representative for the International Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures, Valentine works to keep unaffiliated individuals—in particular, a group of scavengers known as stalkers who scour for alien artifacts to sell on the black market—out of the Visit Zones. While many believe that the Zones contain scientific wonders that will change the course of human history, Valentine is extremely wary of these artifacts and skeptical of their scientific value.

Redrick Schuhart is a 23-year-old laboratory assistant at the Harmont branch of the International Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures. He obtained a job there two years ago after serving a six-month jail sentence for smuggling alien artifacts out of the Zone.