The narrative opens with sea-bound letters framing the account of a driven scientist who assembles a living being from dead matter and then rejects it. The created being educates itself, experiences brutal social rejection, and demands companionship; when the creator refuses, the being retaliates by killing those close to his maker. The original maker pursues the creation across desolate landscapes, culminating in an Arctic chase. The tale interrogates the costs of unchecked ambition, the obligations of creators toward their creations, and the destructive effects of isolation, while inviting sympathy for the suffering intelligence it portrays.