The intriguing events of this novel take place in the small town of Chester’s Mill, which is located in the state of Maine. An inexplicable phenomenon suddenly changes the life of many inhabitants and nobody is able to solve this problem. A strange barrier, which is similar to a dome, covers the whole Chester’s Mill, completely isolating all the inhabitants from the surrounding world. The dome is almost impenetrable, but only a small amount of air and water can pass through the dome. Cars, airplanes and birds bump into this invisible dome. Military arrives at this town, trying to pierce the dome, but neither powerful air-to-surface missiles nor boric acid can break it. Besides, it influences on the electronics and gadgets, being near the dome. That is why Sheriff Howard “Duke” Perkins dies, when he comes close to the dome- a pacemaker explodes in his chest. All inhabitants panic and worry about their future.
Taking advantage of the fact that two members of the City Council Andy Sanders and Andrea Grinnell abandon the authority to lead Chester’s Mill for various reasons, which are connected with the accident, the third member James Rennie (nicknamed “Big Jim”) takes the full power to himself, appointing to the post of Sheriff Peter Randolph. Peter Randolph organizes the town squad to maintain order and discipline, gathering all cruel and stupid people with low moral principles. One of such cruel is a mentally unbalanced son of James Rennie, nicknamed “Junior”, who is a drug addict and sadist. At the beginning of the book, Junior manages to kill two girls. In addition, Phil Bushey, who is a DJ of the local radio station in the building in the south of the city, produces methamphetamine. Big Jim finances and manages the production of drugs. It is interesting that until death, Sheriff Perkins leads an investigation into Big Jim, but he does not have time to finish it.
This town Chester’s Mill plunges into the chaos, which is created by Big Jim. Big Jim enjoys the fact that everyone idolizes him under the dome and every inhabitant considers him the only hope of salvation during times of crisis. Nobody can influence him from the outside. Meanwhile, Junior helps his father to eliminate his enemies.
Still, there is a man who is not afraid to fight against Big Jim and his son Junior. He receives an order from the U.S. president to become his representative under the dome. Former military Dale Barbara, a veteran of Iraq, accidentally appears in the town, trying to understand the nature of the dome and at the same time confront Rennie’s unleashed unlimitedness and lawlessness. With the help of a clever and capable teenager Joe McAlister, Dale manages to find out the place, where the device, which creates the dome, is located. Then Barbara is arrested and imprisoned for murder charges, despite the fact that Big Jim and his son commit all murders. The editorial staff of the local newspaper, which is led by Dale’s friend Julia Shumway, is burned by Big Jim’s order. Soon Rusty Everett, physician’s assistant, who helps Barbara, is imprisoned. With the help of an honest police officer Jackie Wettington, Barbara gets out of the prison, barely avoiding his death, because distraught Junior wants to kill him. After Barbara, Julia, Rusty, his wife Linda and their two children, reverend Piper Libby, Rose, who is a café owner, and several other people go to the source of the dome and realize that they are victims of an experiment of some extraterrestrial civilization.
Meanwhile, gas supplies are running out in the town. Big Jim, who stocks with propane to produce methamphetamine, sends a detachment of police officers to confiscate it. Phil Bushey, who is a drug addict and responsible for the production of methamphetamine (his wife is rapped by Junior’s friends) and a former member of the council Andy Sanders (his wife dies in aircraft crash and Junior kills his daughter), who joins Phil, arrange a firefight with police officers and blow up gas reserves. The explosion provokes a fiery wave in the closed dome space, which burns the whole Chester’s Mills, and the majority of the population is killed by fire. Besides, the fire burns almost all the oxygen under the dome. Big Jim tries to wait out the cataclysm in the basement of the town hall, but eventually he dies of fear and suffocation. Barbara, Julia and “Sloppy” Sam Verdreaux (a town drunk), who invents to use the breathing air from car tires, return to the device that generates the dome and try to come into contact with another civilization, while the last inhabitants of Chester’s Mill can be saved. Barbara and Julia manage to convince aliens to turn off the dome and they remove it.
