The general idea is a World Government manipulates people so as to make them easier to govern. They are split into five castes, hatched by the state to fill preset positions in society. The lower castes, which are clones, are treated with chemicals to arrest their mental and physical development. Children are treated by a process which gives them only information appropriate to their caste. They are moulded for their positions in life. Psychological needs are met by compulsory dosing of the drug "soma", a hallucinogen which takes the user on an enjoyable trip. In the novel various characters experience life in this planned society and struggle with the problems it causes them.