Ray Bradbury’s renowned short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” is set on August 4, 2026—today’s date. The story follows an automated house in Allendale, California, continuing its daily routines in a desolate world.
The narrative opens with the house’s voice-clock announcing the time at 7 a.m., followed by the breakfast stove automatically preparing eight pieces of toast, eight eggs, bacon, coffee, and milk. Throughout the morning, the house’s systems operate with mechanical precision: a cleaning cycle at 9:15 employs robot mice to vacuum and dust, while a garage door lifts and then closes when no car emerges.
The story gradually reveals the grim context of this automation. At 10 a.m., the sun emerges to illuminate the house “alone in a city of rubble and ashes.” The west side of the house bears silhouettes burned into its surface—images of a man mowing a lawn, a woman picking flowers, and children with a ball, captured in what the text describes as “one titanic instant.” The ruined city glows radioactively at night.
As the day progresses, the house continues its programmed functions. A skeletal dog enters in the afternoon and quickly dies. Robot systems prepare dinner, and the house’s ceiling voice offers to recite a poem to Mrs. McClellan, selecting Sara Teasdale’s “There Will Come Soft Rains”—the poem from which the story’s title derives. The poem contemplates nature’s indifference to human extinction, noting that spring would scarcely know humanity was gone.
The story’s climax arrives at 10 p.m. when a tree bough crashes through the kitchen window, spilling cleaning solvent onto the stove and igniting a fire. The house’s automated systems attempt to extinguish the blaze with water pumps and chemical sprays, but the fire proves too powerful. Wind carries flames to the attic, destroying the central control system that directs the pumps. As the house collapses, various automated voices continue their functions—announcing time, playing music, operating remote mowers—amid the chaos.
The story concludes with silence and smoke settling over the ruins. A single wall remains standing, and from within it, a lone voice continues repeating, “Today is August 5, 2026,” unaware that the calendar has turned to a new day.
Key facts
- The story is set in Allendale, California on August 4, 2026
- An automated house performs daily routines despite being in a post-apocalyptic, radioactive wasteland
- The house’s west side bears silhouettes of human figures burned into its surface from a nuclear event
- A dying dog enters the house in the afternoon
- The house catches fire at 10 p.m. when a tree branch crashes through the kitchen window
- The fire destroys the house’s central control system in the attic
- A surviving wall continues announcing the date as August 5, 2026 after the house collapses