A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between understanding the setting and understanding the causal chain of a science fiction story. The 72 subjects, ranging in age from 16 to 54 and in educational level from high school seniors to those holding the doctoral degree, were divided into two groups that were labeled as sophisticated or naive science-fiction readers, according to their scores on the Science Fiction Knowledge Test. Additional materials used in evaluating the two groups were an adapted version of Marta Randall's story "Secret Rider," the 16-item Causal Chain Test, and the 35-item Setting Test. The materials were completed in one untimed sitting that took between 75 and 90 minutes. The setting summary was randomly presented with the story to 16 naive readers and 17 sophisticated readers. Findings showed that sophisticated subjects recalled significantly more setting and causal chain information than naive subjects. Furthermore, although understanding of the causal chain was not completely dependent on the understanding of the setting, there was a significant relationship between causal chain and setting. (DF)