Protagonist, Kris Kelvin, arrives at a scientific research station hovering above the surface of Solaris where research has been ongoing for years on the strange ocean life form.

When Kris and his colleagues become more aggressive in trying to force contact with Solaris, the ocean's response is to experiment with the researchers' minds by confronting them with their most painful and repressed thoughts and memories through the materialization of complex human constructs.

Kris is confronted with the manifestation of his deceased wife and his guilt over her suicide but whatever seems to be tormenting the other researchers appears to be much worse.