Character Relationship Map: Contact

Characters

• Ellie Arroway (played by Jodie Foster) — protagonist

  Ellie Arroway is the central scientist and SETI researcher, first working at Arecibo and later at the Very Large Array. She discovers an extraterrestrial signal, helps decode its plans for a transport...

• Palmer Joss (played by Matthew McConaughey) — protagonist

  Palmer Joss is a Christian philosopher who has a sexual relationship with Ellie Arroway before she decides not to contact him again. He later serves on the international panel choosing the machine's t...

• Michael Kitz (played by James Woods) — supporting

  Michael Kitz heads the National Security Council during the discovery of the extraterrestrial signal. He tries to bring the facility and its research under official control, later leads the congressio...

• David Drumlin (played by Tom Skerritt) — supporting

  David Drumlin is the President's science advisor and a long-standing institutional opponent of SETI funding. He repeatedly attempts to terminate Ellie's program, yet becomes the panel's selected trave...

• Rachel Constantine (played by Angela Bassett) — supporting

  Rachel Constantine is a White House official involved in the confidential aftermath of Ellie's mission. She discusses the government's secret information with Michael Kitz and observes that one of Ell...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Ellie Arroway → Rachel Constantine (Power Subject Of Government Review) — Rachel is involved in the official review of Ellie's unexplained experience.

  Rachel discusses confidential information concerning Ellie after the mission and the Congressional inquiry.

• Palmer Joss → David Drumlin (Power Candidate Selector) — Palmer's intervention contributes to the decision that places Drumlin on the mission.

  As a panel member, Palmer draws attention to Ellie's atheism, and the panel selects Drumlin as the traveler.

• Michael Kitz → Rachel Constantine (Professional Government Colleague) — They coordinate the government's private assessment of the mission evidence.

  Kitz and White House official Rachel Constantine discuss the confidential information after Ellie's mission.

• Ellie Arroway → Palmer Joss (Romantic Sexual Partner) — Their brief intimate relationship becomes complicated by their opposing views on faith and science.

  Ellie has sex with Palmer Joss, but later decides not to contact him again.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Michael Kitz → Palmer Joss (Unknown Institutional Counterpart) — They represent different institutional stages in the public handling of the discovery.

  Palmer participates in the international panel selecting the traveler, while Kitz leads the later Congressional Committee investigating the mission.

• Michael Kitz → David Drumlin (Alliance Governmental Collaborator) — Kitz and Drumlin cooperate to place the discovery under institutional control.

  Drumlin and the National Security Council, headed by Kitz, attempt to seize control of the facility after the signal is discovered.

• Ellie Arroway → Michael Kitz (Conflict Political Adversary) — Kitz represents governmental suspicion toward Ellie's discovery and testimony.

  Kitz heads the National Security Council effort to seize control of the signal project and later leads the committee questioning Ellie.

• Ellie Arroway → David Drumlin (Conflict Professional Rival) — Drumlin's institutional skepticism repeatedly threatens Ellie's scientific work.

  Drumlin repeatedly seeks to terminate SETI funding, while Ellie continues searching and later discovers the Vega signal.

Story Analysis

A scientist's search for extraterrestrial intelligence challenges the boundary between scientific proof, personal faith, and human wonder.

Plot Progression

1. Listening Beyond Earth — Ellie Arroway dedicates herself to SETI after her father's influence. Funding threats and institutional skepticism endanger her search, but she continues working at the VLA.
2. The Signal From Vega — Ellie discovers prime-number emissions from Vega and finds a hidden historical transmission inside them. The discovery brings government surveillance and a struggle for control.
3. Blueprints For Passage — The signal yields thousands of encoded pages and plans for a one-person transportation machine. International governments fund its construction while the selection process exposes conflicts over faith...
4. A Mission Reclaimed — Drumlin is selected as the traveler, but a terrorist attack destroys the first machine and kills him. Ellie then learns that a secret second machine gives her another chance.
5. Evidence Beyond Proof — Ellie travels through the machine, encounters an alien appearing as her father, and returns with an experience that cannot be scientifically verified. Palmer believes her, and SETI receives continued...