到2021年，世界大战已经夺走了几百万人的生命，所有的物种都濒临灭绝，人类不得不离开地球。那些留下来的人对任何活着的生物都有觊觎之心，对于那些买不起的人，许多公司为他们创造了十分逼真的相似物：马、鸟、猫和羊。他们甚至还创造了人。火星移民者收到的仿真机器人太成熟了，以至于他们和真人几乎没有区别。由于害怕这些人造的人类可能造成破坏，政府禁止他们留在地球。于是，这些未授权的机器人被迫藏了起来，和人类生活在一起，完全没人察觉。Rick Deckard是一名获得官方许可的赏金猎人，他被委托去寻找制造麻烦的机器人，并让他们“退休”。然而，走投无路的机器人开始了致命的反击。

By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can't afford one, companies build incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They've even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and "retire" them. But when cornered, androids fight back--with lethal force.

Praise for Philip K. Dick

"[Dick] sees all the sparkling--and terrifying--possibilities . . . that other authors shy away from."--Rolling Stone

"A kind of pulp-fiction Kafka, a prophet."--The New York Times