An automated, futuristic house situated in Allendale, California, in the year 2057. It possesses machine-like sentience, operating with mechanical precision to cook, clean, and provide comfort for its absent human inhabitants. Equipped with voice-clocks, robotic cleaning mice, and weather-sensing technology, it actively works to maintain domestic order and defend itself against the chaotic natural world outside.

A personified natural force that invades the high-tech home. Unlike the rigid and highly structured machinery of the building, the flames act with adaptability and perceived intelligence. It actively circumvents the house's defensive systems, threatening the remaining art, furniture, and structures with deliberate intent.

The absent former residents of the Allendale home, consisting of a husband, wife, and two children. Addressed by the home machinery as the McClellans, they lived a life of highly automated, mid-20th-century style domesticity. They leave behind only shadows of their daily activities: mowing the lawn, picking flowers, and playing catch.

The former pet of the McClellan family, now suffering from exposure in the desolate outside world. It returns to the only home it knows, searching frantically for its absent owners. The animal bridges the gap between the untamed natural world and the rigidly ordered interior of the automated home.