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<p><b><i>Under the Dome</b></i> is a science fiction novel by <a href="/pages/w/108106745883656">Stephen King</a> published in November 2009. It is the 58th book published by Stephen King and it was his 48th novel. Set in and around a small Maine town, it tells an intricate, multi-character and point-of-view story of how the town's inhabitants contend with the calamity of being suddenly cut off from the outside world by an impassable, invisible barrier that drops out of the sky, transforming the community into a <a href="/pages/w/126597457383749">domed city</a>.</p><h2>Summary</h2><p>At 11:44 a.m. on Saturday, October 21, of an unspecified year (but somewhat later than 2012, as a faded <a href="/pages/w/112455192103663">bumper sticker</a> references <a href="/pages/w/105503206150390">Barack Obama</a>'s <a href="/pages/w/109162515781909">2012</a> re-election campaign) the small <a href="/pages/w/108603925831326">Maine</a> town of Chester's Mill is abruptly and gruesomely separated from the outside world by an invisible, <a href="/pages/w/109170929114807">semipermeable</a> barrier of unknown origin. The immediate appearance of the barrier causes a number of injuries and fatalities, and traps former <a href="/pages/w/103947189642211">Army</a> Captain Dale "Barbie" Barbara—who is trying to leave Chester's Mill because of a local dispute—inside the town.</p><p>Police Chief Howard "Duke" Perkins is killed instantly when his pacemaker explodes when he gets too close to the <a href="/pages/w/105443639490044">dome</a>. This removes the last significant opposition to James "Big Jim" Rennie, used car salesman and the town's Second <a href="/pages/w/111081355583665">Selectman</a>. Big Jim exerts significant influence on Chester's Mill and seizes the opportunity to use the barrier as part of a power play to take over the town.</p>