Contact

Content Ratings

Mild Romance

Ellie's professional and personal life includes a past romantic relationship and a developing connection with a man from the political world; the romance is present but secondary to the novel's scientific and philosophical concerns.

Moderate Themes

The novel explores the tension between scientific and religious interpretations of first contact, the politics of who speaks for humanity, and the personal cost of a life devoted to a question others consider futile.

No Violence

There is no violence; conflict is political, religious, and philosophical rather than physical.

Synopsis

Radio astronomer Ellie Arroway has dedicated her career to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and finally intercepts a signal containing the blueprints for an interstellar transport machineâ€”triggering a global political and religious crisis over who should make first contact and what it means. A thoughtful, scientifically grounded novel that takes both the scientific and spiritual dimensions of first contact seriously. Sagan's only novel, and a remarkable one.