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Intro
In a world devastated by a nuclear war, known as World War Terminus, Rick Deckard wakes up. He adjusts his mood using his Penfield mood organ, while his wife, Iran, programs hers for depression, believing it connects her to their grim reality. Rick urges her to choose a more positive mood, and after some resistance, she agrees. Rick then tends to his electric sheep on the roof. The sheep, a mechanical replica of the real one he lost to tetanus, helps him avoid the shame of not owning a live animal. Meanwhile, his neighbor, Bill Barbour, cares for his pregnant horse. Rick envies the horse and offers to buy it or the colt, but Bill refuses.
Rick decides to focus on his work as a bounty hunter to earn enough money to buy a live animal. He learns that his colleague, Dave Holden, was injured by a Nexus-6 android. Rick takes over Holden’s assignment to retire six rogue androids. At the Hall of Justice, Inspector Harry Bryant briefs Rick on the advanced Nexus-6 models. Concerned about the effectiveness of the Voigt-Kampff test, which identifies androids by showing that they lack empathy, Bryant sends Rick to the Rosen Association in Seattle to evaluate their androids. In Seattle, Rachael Rosen greets Rick and volunteers for the test. Rick determines she is an android with implanted memories, despite her insistence that she is human. Eldon Rosen, Rachael’s “uncle,” tries to discredit the test and bribes Rick with an artificial owl, but Rick refuses. The encounter leaves Rick uneasy about the androids’ advanced capabilities.
Rick begins his hunt by tracking Polokov, an android posing as a Soviet officer. Polokov attacks Rick, but Rick shoots him. Rick then moves on to Luba Luft, a Nexus-6 android posing as an opera singer. Luba’s artistic talent unsettles Rick, but he presses forward. When Rick tries to administer the Voigt-Kampff test on her, Luba accuses Rick of harassment and calls the police. A man named Officer Crams arrives and arrests Rick, claiming that no record of him or Bryant exists. Crams takes Rick to a police station Rick has never heard of before, which Rick eventually discovers is run by androids.
At the station, Rick meets Phil Resch, a bounty hunter who suspects he might be an android. Together, they escape and retire Luba Luft. Rick tests Resch and confirms he is human, though Resch’s enjoyment of killing disturbs Rick. Afterward, Rick buys a live goat with his bounty money, hoping to restore a sense of inner purpose and bolster his social status. Although Rick doesn’t want to finish his work assignment, Bryant insists that he hunt the remaining androids: Pris Stratton, Roy Baty, and Irmgard Baty. Rick calls Rachael for help. Rachael arrives at his hotel and sleeps with him. Afterwards, she reveals that she has seduced other bounty hunters to make them emotionally incapable of killing androids. Rick grows angry with Rachael and threatens to kill her for her deception but finds he cannot do it. Instead, he leaves her on her own and flies off to confront the remaining androids on his list.
Meanwhile, John Isidore, a “special” with limited cognitive abilities, lives alone in a decaying building. He befriends Pris, one of the androids Rick is hunting—she has just moved into an apartment in his building, and he’s thrilled to have a neighbor. Roy and Irmgard Baty soon join Pris in John’s building. Before long, they set up alarms to protect themselves from bounty hunters. John grows attached to the androids, finding a sense of belonging with them. That night, Buster Friendly, a popular media personality, broadcasts an exposé revealing that Mercerism, John’s religion, is based on a fabrication. John feels devastated, but Mercer appears to him in a vision, encouraging him to continue believing in the shared empathy Mercerism fosters. This vision restores John’s faith.
Rick arrives at John’s building and confronts the androids. He kills Pris, Roy, and Irmgard after a tense confrontation. John, devastated by the loss of the androids, grieves their deaths. Rick reports his success to Bryant and reflects on the emotional toll of his work. When Rick returns home, Iran tells him that Rachael killed their goat. Overwhelmed, Rick leaves in his hovercar and flies to an abandoned spot in the desert. There, he finds a toad, a creature thought to be extinct, and which is associated with Mercer. Rick brings the toad home to show Iran, but she discovers it is artificial. Despite this, Rick insists it still holds value. Exhausted, he goes to sleep while Iran orders artificial flies to feed to the toad.
