The novel's main character, Rudy Waltz, or "Deadeye Dick", commits accidental
manslaughter as a child when he shoots a gun out of a window and fatally strikes a pregnant woman. Rudy was so traumatized and guilt-ridden by the incident that he lives life as an
asexual "neuter," neither homosexual nor heterosexual. He tells the story of his life as a middle-aged
expatriate hotel manager in Haiti, which symbolizes
New York City, until the end, when the stream of time of the story catches up with him. At this point, he confronts an event that has been suggested and referred to throughout the novel. The generic
Midwestern town of Midland City,
Ohio, in which Rudy was raised, is virtually destroyed by a
neutron bomb, all the people in the town dying. At the ending of the book, it appears that Rudy, while he may not have fully come to terms with his actions, has at least come to live with them. Another key theme throughout the book is the relationship between Waltz and his parents and brother, Felix. His father, as a young man, lived in Austria and was one of the few people who was actually friends with
Adolf Hitler before his rise to power. His father is also a failed artist, who does his best to protect Rudy, to the point when he insists on going to jail just to effectively make a point. Rudy's brother was the president of
NBC, who is fired after his fourth marriage breaks up. ==Place in the Vonnegut universe==