The main character in the novel is Lieutenant Commander Frank Poole. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, Poole is apparently killed as the computer, HAL, takes control of the spaceship Discovery. Dave Bowman seals Poole's body in a small space pod called a "hibernaculum," and sends it off into the unknown. In 3001: The Final Odyssey, Poole's pod is detected near the fringes of the solar system and is recovered by a "space tug," pulled from its duty of wrapping ice-laden comets to be sent toward Mars or Venus. Poole is brought back to life by means unspecified, and is slowly oriented to the life and times of the year 3001.

At Star City, Poole is medically monitored by Professor Anderson, and must slowly adjust to normal daily activities.

Since he has been in space nearly a thousand years, he resides in a section of Africa Tower having lighter gravity than the...