The chapter introduces the protagonist, Rick Deckard, and the bleak, post-apocalyptic world of 1992 San Francisco. He and his wife, Iran, begin their day by arguing over the use of their Penfield mood organs—devices that allow them to dial up specific emotions. Iran has scheduled a six-hour depression for herself, explaining that she wants to feel an "appropriate" despair for the emptiness of their world, where most of humanity has emigrated off-planet to escape the radioactive dust left over from World War Terminus.

Their argument reveals Rick's profession: he is a bounty hunter who "retires" (kills) androids, or "andys," for money. Iran calls him a murderer, but Rick retorts that she has no problem spending the bounty money. His primary goal is to save enough to replace his electric sheep with a real one, as owning a living animal is the ultimate status symbol and a moral imperative in their society.

After ending the argument by dialing a mood for his wife that makes her agree with him, Rick goes to the roof of his apartment building. He tends to his convincing but fake electric sheep, a source of deep shame and demoralization for him. He has a conversation with his neighbor, Bill Barbour, who proudly shows off his real, pregnant horse. The conversation highlights Rick's desperation and the social pressure surrounding animal ownership, which is tied to the society's quasi-religion, Mercerism, and the concept of empathy.

Rick reveals to Barbour that his sheep is a fake, a replacement for his real one which died of tetanus. The chapter concludes with Rick heading to work, his motivation made clear: he needs the bounty money from retiring five more androids to afford the five-thousand-dollar price tag of a real animal, which he believes will restore his sense of self-worth and social standing.

This chapter shifts focus to **John Isidore**, a resident of a vast, decaying, and almost entirely empty apartment building in a desolate, post-war San Francisco. The world is described as being ravaged by "World War Terminus," which left behind a radioactive dust that killed most animal life and made Earth largely uninhabitable. The U.N. heavily incentivizes emigration to off-world colonies like Mars, offering a free, custom-made android servant as a "carrot" and the threat of radioactive contamination and being classified as "biologically unacceptable" as the "stick."

Isidore is one of the few who have remained on Earth. He is labeled a "special" due to genetic defects from the fallout. Worse, he has failed the minimum mental faculties test, earning him the derogatory label of a **"chickenhead."** Despite this social stigma, he manages to hold a job driving a delivery truck for an electric-animal repair shop.

The chapter opens with Isidore being barraged by a government TV advertisement promoting emigration. Overwhelmed by the profound, oppressive silence and loneliness of his empty building (which he fears will eventually succumb to "kipple," or useless junk), he seeks solace in his **empathy box**.

When he grips the handles of the box, his consciousness fuses with a messianic figure named **Wilbur Mercer** and, simultaneously, with everyone else using an empathy box at that moment. He experiences Mercer's eternal, painful ascent up a barren hill while being pelted with rocks by unseen antagonists. He feels the collective consciousness of all the other participants and even sustains a real, physical wound on his arm from a rock that strikes Mercer in the shared experience.

After disconnecting from the box and tending to his bleeding arm, Isidore hears something shocking: the sound of another TV set in the building. He realizes with immense excitement that he is no longer alone—a new resident has moved in. The chapter ends with him grabbing a cube of margarine as a welcome gift and heading downstairs to meet his new neighbor, his main worry being that he must hide his "chickenhead" status to avoid being rejected.

On his way to work, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stops to look at a rare and extremely expensive live ostrich in a pet shop window, highlighting his desire for a real animal. When he arrives late at the Hall of Justice, his boss, Inspector Harry Bryant, informs him that the department's top bounty hunter, Dave Holden, has been shot and hospitalized by one of the new, highly advanced Nexus-6 androids.

In his office, Deckard reflects on the Nexus-6 model, whose intelligence is so sophisticated it surpasses that of some humans. He contemplates the philosophical and biological basis of empathy, concluding that it is a herd instinct unique to communal species like humans. He reasons that solitary predators, like androids, lack empathy, which allows him to frame them as "The Killers" described in his religion, Mercerism, thus justifying his job of "retiring" them.

Still fixated on the ostrich, Deckard calls the pet shop and confirms its price is an unaffordable $29,000. He then calls a manufacturer of artificial animals and learns an electric ostrich costs less than $800, underscoring the enormous value placed on genuine life. The chapter ends with Deckard, feeling depressed despite the potential career opportunity, heading into a meeting with Inspector Bryant to discuss the new situation.

Chapter 4 begins with Rick Deckard receiving his new, high-stakes assignment from his superior, Inspector Bryant. Bryant confirms that there are six of the new, highly intelligent Nexus-6 androids at large, and that the previous bounty hunter, Dave Holden, was seriously injured by one of them (Max Polokov) while administering the Voigt-Kampff empathy test.

Instead of sending Rick directly after the fugitives, the cautious Bryant has a different plan. He is concerned that the Voigt-Kampff test may not be reliable enough to identify the advanced Nexus-6 model. He orders Rick to fly to the Rosen Association headquarters in Seattle, the company that manufactures the androids, to calibrate his test. Bryant reveals a crucial twist: the test group will secretly include humans mixed in with the androids, and Rick won't know which is which. This is to see if the test is truly accurate or if it might mistakenly identify a human as an android—a potentially fatal error that has been a growing concern for law enforcement.

Upon arriving at the Rosen building, Rick is met by the sharp and sullen Rachael Rosen. On the roof, he is stunned to see the company's collection of real animals, including a raccoon and, most shockingly, a living owl—a species he believed to be extinct. The sight triggers a deep yearning in Rick for a real animal of his own and intensifies his disdain for his electric sheep.

Downstairs, Rick meets Rachael's uncle, Eldon Rosen. Both Rosens are visibly nervous, fully aware that Rick's test results could ruin their company by forcing a recall of the entire Nexus-6 line. As Rick sets up his Voigt-Kampff equipment, Rachael volunteers to be the first test subject. The chapter ends on a cliffhanger as Eldon Rosen tells Rick that Rachael may, in fact, be an android, and they are counting on his test to determine the truth.

Rick Deckard administers the Voigt-Kampff empathy test to Rachael Rosen. The test presents scenarios designed to provoke an empathic response, measured by involuntary eye and capillary reactions. Rachael's answers are a confusing mix: she shows a strong negative reaction to a calfskin wallet but a very weak one to killing a wasp. Other questions, like one involving a lobster being boiled alive, elicit the correct verbal horror but no corresponding physical reaction on the gauges, leading Deckard to believe her responses are simulated.

After several questions, Deckard concludes she is an android. However, Eldon Rosen intervenes, claiming the test is flawed. He explains that Rachael is human but was raised in isolation on a spaceship, her knowledge of Earth and its social norms coming only from a limited tape library. This, he argues, has stunted her empathy, causing her to test like an android and proving the Voigt-Kampff scale is unreliable. They reveal they have the session on tape, which they can use to discredit Deckard and his entire department.

Cornered and with his career on the line, Deckard listens as the Rosens offer him a bribe: a real, live owl, the animal he covets most, if he agrees to ignore the test's "failure" and proceed with his hunt for the escaped Nexus-6 androids. As they negotiate the terms, Deckard has a flash of insight and asks to administer one final, improvised question.

He tells Rachael his briefcase is made of "genuine human babyhide." Rachael reacts with horror, but Deckard notices a crucial delay between the statement and her physical reaction. This pause, which a truly empathetic human wouldn't have, confirms his initial diagnosis: she is an android simulating emotion, not feeling it.

Caught in their own trap, Eldon Rosen admits the truth. Rachael is indeed a Nexus-6 android, programmed with false memories to test and undermine the Voigt-Kampff scale. Deckard then asks if the owl is real, and Rosen admits it's artificial.

Deckard leaves the Rosen Association, his confidence in the test restored but deeply shaken. He now has firsthand experience with the sophisticated deception of the Nexus-6 model and understands the grave danger the six remaining escapees pose.

John Isidore, a resident of a nearly deserted apartment building, hears a television in the unit below him. Excited by the prospect of a neighbor, he knocks on the door, bringing a cube of margarine as a welcoming gift. The TV abruptly goes silent, and a terrified young woman answers. Isidore learns she thought the building was completely abandoned.

As they talk, Isidore notices the woman is unfamiliar with the famous TV personality Buster Friendly. He also sees her apartment is in a state of advanced decay, which he explains with his personal theory of "kipple"—useless junk that relentlessly accumulates and takes over when unopposed. He posits that the entire universe is succumbing to "kippleization," and that the spiritual struggle of Mercerism is the only force that pushes back against this decay.

The conversation turns when Isidore mentions his empathy box, inadvertently revealing that he is a "special" (or "chickenhead"), someone who failed the minimum IQ test. The woman's fear immediately transforms into cold contempt, calling his status a "major objection to Mercerism."

Hurt by her reaction, Isidore starts to leave. However, the woman stops him, pragmatically realizing she needs his help to scavenge furniture from the other empty apartments. She coldly rejects his friendly offer to have dinner together. When he asks her name, she gives a series of contradictory answers: she first says she is "Rachael Rosen," but when Isidore connects the name to the famous android manufacturing corporation, she angrily denies it, insults his intelligence, and then claims her name is "Pris Stratton." She instructs him to call her Miss Stratton and shuts the door, leaving Isidore alone and confused in the hallway.

The chapter follows John Isidore, a "special" or "chickenhead" whose low IQ prevents him from emigrating off-world. He begins his day as a driver for the Van Ness Pet Hospital, a repair shop for electric animals. His first job is to pick up a malfunctioning electric cat. The cat's simulated illness is so realistic—with erratic panting and groaning—that it deeply disturbs Isidore. He tries to find its control panel to recharge it, but the workmanship is so perfect he can't locate it before the cat "dies" in his truck.

On his way back to the shop, Isidore listens to the popular TV and radio personality Buster Friendly, whom he resents for subtly mocking Mercerism. He develops a theory that Buster and the spiritual figure Wilbur Mercer are fighting for control over humanity's collective soul. When he arrives at the shop, his boss, Hannibal Sloat, confirms part of his theory by revealing that Buster Friendly and his regular guests are not normal humans and are, in fact, immortal, just like Mercer is said to be.

The central crisis of the chapter occurs when Mr. Sloat inspects the cat and makes a horrifying discovery: it isn't an electric fake, but a real cat, and it is now dead. Enraged, Sloat cruelly forces Isidore—who has a severe phobia of using the vidphone—to call the owner and deliver the bad news.

Terrified but facing being fired, Isidore makes the call and speaks to the owner's wife, Mrs. Pilsen. After breaking the news of her cat Horace's death, Isidore has a moment of panicked inspiration and suggests replacing it with a perfect electric replica. Initially horrified, Mrs. Pilsen agrees to the plan, revealing her husband loved the cat so much he was afraid to get close to it, and she fears the truth of its death would destroy him. The chapter ends with Mr. Sloat grudgingly acknowledging that Isidore handled the difficult situation well, leaving Isidore with a rare and elating feeling of competence.

Bounty hunter Rick Deckard returns to his superior Harry Bryant's office after his trip to Seattle. Bryant informs him that his first target will be Polokov, the android who injured the previous bounty hunter, Dave Holden. Polokov is cleverly disguised as a "special" (a human with mental deficiencies) working as a trash collector. Bryant also tells Rick that a Soviet police officer, Sandor Kadalyi, is arriving to observe and possibly assist him, though Rick will not have to share the bounty.

Rick, preferring to work alone, immediately sets out to find Polokov. He first visits Polokov's workplace, the Bay Area Scavengers Company, but learns he didn't show up for work. Next, he goes to Polokov's grimy apartment, only to find it abandoned, confirming his fear that the android has fled.

Reporting his failure to Bryant, Rick is told that the Soviet cop, Kadalyi, has arrived early and will meet him at his current location. While waiting, Rick receives an unexpected call from Rachael Rosen. She warns him that the Nexus-6 androids are too dangerous for him to handle alone and offers to assist him, an offer he curtly dismisses.

Immediately after, a man arrives introducing himself as Sandor Kadalyi. He shows Rick a strange, custom-made laser pistol and encourages him to test it. When Rick pulls the trigger, nothing happens. In a moment of clarity, Rick realizes this is a trap and that the man is not Kadalyi, but the android Polokov in disguise. Rick's car is equipped with a device that neutralizes the laser, and when Polokov attacks him physically, Rick shoots and "retires" him with his .38 magnum pistol.

Shaken but successful, Rick collects his first $1,000 bounty. He calls his wife, Iran, to share the news, but she is lost in a deep, self-induced depression and is completely unresponsive. Frustrated by her emotional emptiness, Rick reflects that most androids seem to have more desire to live than his wife. This encounter, combined with Rachael's accurate warning about the Nexus-6's cunning, makes him reconsider her offer of help.

For now, however, he decides to tackle the next android on his list, an opera singer named Luba Luft, on his own. Filled with a renewed sense of purpose and anticipation, he heads for the opera house.

Rick Deckard tracks his third target, the Nexus-6 android Luba Luft, to an opera house where she is rehearsing Mozart's *The Magic Flute*. As he watches, Deckard muses on mortality and entropy, seeing himself as a "form-destroyer" who un-creates the androids that the Rosen Association builds.

He confronts Luba in her dressing room to administer the Voigt-Kampff empathy test. Luba proves to be exceptionally clever and manipulative. She skillfully derails the test by feigning ignorance of basic words (like "wasp"), questioning the morality of the scenarios, and then turning the tables by accusing Deckard of being an android himself, since his job requires a lack of empathy. She demands that he take the test first to prove his own humanity.

When Deckard's questions become more personal, Luba accuses him of being a sexual deviant, pulls a laser tube on him, and calls the police. Deckard is initially relieved, believing this action proves she's human. However, the arriving officer, a "harness bull" named Crams, claims he has never heard of Deckard or his superior, Inspector Bryant. When Deckard gets Bryant on the vidphone, the line mysteriously cuts out, and Crams insists no one was there. Crams then "confirms" with his own headquarters that Deckard is not a police officer.

Crams arrests Deckard. After seeing the body of the previously retired android (Polokov) in Deckard's car, he drives Deckard away. Deckard soon realizes they are heading in the wrong direction. Crams informs him that the Hall of Justice he knows has been abandoned for years and they are going to a new one. In this moment, Deckard understands he has been captured by a highly organized group of androids and that Officer Crams is one of them, leaving him a helpless prisoner.

Rick Deckard is taken to the Mission Street Hall of Justice, a police headquarters he has never seen before, creating a profound sense of disorientation. He is booked on several serious charges, including impersonating an officer and suspected homicide, as the police don't believe his claim that the body in his car (Polokov) is an android.

His confusion deepens when he is allowed to call his wife, Iran, but a strange woman he's never seen before answers his home phone. He is then interrogated by a senior official, Inspector Garland, who reveals that this police department has its own bounty hunters and is completely unaware of Rick's agency, suggesting the existence of a parallel police force.

The situation escalates dramatically when Garland examines Rick's briefcase and discovers his own name on Rick's list of androids to be "retired." To investigate, Garland calls in his department's top bounty hunter, Phil Resch. A tense conversation ensues where Resch admits he has long been suspicious of certain colleagues, including Polokov.

The turning point comes when a lab report on Polokov's body confirms he was a humanoid robot, validating Rick's story. With his own list now proven at least partially accurate, Rick, supported by the suspicious Phil Resch, insists that Inspector Garland must now be tested, putting the inspector on the defensive and ending the chapter on a tense cliffhanger.

As bounty hunter Phil Resch leaves to get the "Boneli" testing equipment, Inspector Garland reveals the truth to Rick Deckard. He confesses that not only is he an android, but the entire police station is a fake, "closed loop" organization run by a group of escaped androids. The most shocking revelation is that Phil Resch is also an android, but he doesn't know it because he was given a synthetic memory system to make him believe he is human.

When Resch returns, Garland attempts to shoot him. However, Resch, with the superior reflexes of a bounty hunter, instantly reacts and kills Garland instead, blowing his head apart with a laser beam. Unaware of his own nature, Resch is relieved to have eliminated the android threat.

Deckard, choosing to protect Resch for the moment, lies and says Garland only revealed his own android identity. To escape the android-filled building, Resch props Garland's body up at his desk and handcuffs himself to Deckard, pretending to be a bounty hunter escorting a prisoner. They successfully reach Resch's hovercar on the roof.

During the flight, Resch's confidence begins to crumble. He starts piecing together the timeline of his employment under Garland and realizes the horrifying possibility that he might have a false memory system—a trait he knows is unique to androids. In growing torment, he asks Deckard to administer an empathy test on him after they retire their next target, Luba Luft. To prove his humanity to himself and Deckard, he talks lovingly about his real pet squirrel, Buffy, an animal he cares for deeply. The chapter ends with this unresolved tension as they fly toward the opera house.

Rick Deckard and Phil Resch track the android Luba Luft to a museum where she is viewing an Edvard Munch exhibit. As they search, Resch, plagued by doubt about his own identity, is deeply disturbed by Munch's painting "The Scream," remarking, "this is how an andy must feel."

They find Luba absorbed by the painting "Puberty." When they confront her, she is shocked to see Rick free and immediately accuses Resch of being an android, just like her. As they escort her to the elevator, Luba asks Rick to buy her a book of Munch's art. In a surprising act of empathy, Rick buys the expensive book for her with his own money.

In the elevator, Luba thanks Rick, noting that a real android like Resch would never have done such a thing. She relentlessly taunts Resch about being an android trying to imitate a superior human life form. Resch snaps, pulls his laser gun, and shoots Luba. To end her screaming and suffering, Rick delivers the final shot himself. He then methodically burns the art book he just bought for her.

Shaken, Rick declares he is quitting bounty hunting, disturbed by the killing of a talented artist. Resch argues for the necessity of their work. Desperate to know the truth about himself, Resch agrees to be tested. In Resch's car, Rick administers the Voigt-Kampff test and confirms that **Phil Resch is human.**

The revelation is unsettling. Rick concludes that Resch has a defect in his empathy *toward androids*, a coldness that allows him to kill so easily. To confirm this, Rick tests himself, imagining Luba's death, and discovers he has a strong empathetic response. He realizes that his own feelings are considered "abnormal" for a bounty hunter.

Resch dismisses Rick's empathy as simple sexual attraction, offering the chilling advice to "go to bed with her first—and then kill her." The chapter ends with Rick, for the first time, profoundly questioning his own humanity and his fitness for the job.

John R. Isidore, filled with hopeful excitement, uses two weeks of advanced salary to buy rare and luxurious food—peaches, cheese, and a bottle of Chablis wine—to share with his new neighbor, Pris Stratton. When he arrives at her apartment, she is initially suspicious but then delighted by the food, only to have her mood suddenly crash into bitterness and despair, telling him the feast is "wasted" on her.

When Isidore suggests her misery is due to loneliness, Pris reveals the true source of her terror: she and her seven friends are fugitives from Mars, being systematically hunted and killed by professional "bounty hunters." Isidore, completely unaware of this reality, is shocked and thinks she must be delusional, citing Mercerian ethics that "all life is one." He compassionately offers to get a gun and protect her.

As they begin to eat, Pris makes a telling slip about something an "android" would say, strongly hinting at her true nature. She then opens up about the profound loneliness of life on Mars, which drove her and her friends to escape. She explains their main solace on Mars was smuggling and reading "pre-colonial fiction"—old science fiction stories from before space travel was a reality—which allowed them to imagine a better world with cities, successful colonies, and no radioactive dust.

Their conversation is abruptly interrupted by a knock on the door, which sends Pris into a state of pure panic. A man's voice calls out, identifying himself and his companion as "Roy and Irmgard." Terrified it's a trap, Pris forces Isidore to answer the door. He opens it to find a man and a woman, who are indeed revealed to be Pris's friends, Roy and Irmgard Baty. The chapter ends as the androids are joyfully reunited, with the unsuspecting Isidore now harboring three of the fugitives.

Two more androids, the imposing Roy Baty and his wife Irmgard, arrive and reunite with Pris. They bring grim news that five other members of their escaped group—Polokov, Garland, Anders, Gitchel, and Luba Luft—have been killed ("retired") by a bounty hunter, leaving only the three of them.

Roy, the group's clear leader, is strangely energized by the dire situation. He devises a plan for them to hide in the dilapidated apartment building. He instructs Pris to move in with J.R. Isidore to use him as a "cover," while he and Irmgard will occupy Pris's now-vacant apartment nearby. Roy immediately begins setting up a sophisticated alarm system designed to detect an intruder and induce a state of debilitating panic.

During the installation, a casual remark by Roy about the alarm being triggered by a "human" presence finally causes Isidore to realize the truth. He states plainly, "You're androids."

Instead of being horrified, Isidore reacts with empathy and excitement. As a "special" (or "chickenhead"), he is also an outcast from society and feels a kinship with the androids' plight. He is not afraid of them; in fact, he admires their intelligence and reaffirms his desire to protect them. The chapter ends with this strange, uneasy alliance formed: the three cynical androids accept the protection of a naive and compassionate human who sees them not as machines, but as fellow outsiders.