Metropolis is set in 2026 in a technologically advanced city, which is sustained by the existence of an exploited class of laborers who live underground, far away from the gleaming surface world. Freder, the son of one of the city's founders, falls in love with Maria, a girl from the underground. The two worlds are destined to clash and upheaval is inevitable. Can the two lovers survive the coming turmoil. Metropolis the novel was written along side the script for the movie. The two works intertwine to give a complete experience, much like the film and book versions of 2001: A Space Odyssey, one supports the other by bringing clarity and understanding to what the visual virtuosity of the other was meant to convey. This book is not of today or of the future. It tells of no place. It serves no cause, party or class. It has a moral which grows on the pillar of understanding: "The mediator between brain and muscle must be the Heart. —Thea Von Harbou