The story is told with two narrative devices—reports from members of the crew of the U.S. Starship Constitution alternating with a traditional third-person narration of the activities back on Earth. The main protagonist of the activities on Earth is Dr. Dieter von Knefhausen, the scientist in charge of the U.S. space program.

In the first report from the starship, the reader learns that the ship is approximately one month into a multi-year journey to the Alpha Centauri star system, where the crew will begin colonization of the planet Alpha-Aleph. Already, the crew is finding they have too much free time and have begun filling that time by studying various problems in mathematics. In the first narration of the action on Earth, the reader learns that society has become dystopian. The possibility of colonizing Alpha-Aleph is a source of hope for a better future.

As the story progresses, the reader is told that the existence of the planet Alpha-Aleph is a hoax, perpetrated not only on the American people but also on the crew of the starship. The true purpose of the mission is to place the crew in a position where they will have nothing to do other than study mathematics. The hoax was the idea of Knefhausen, who believes that, if deprived of any other means of recreation, the crew will succeed in making scientific breakthroughs that will then be broadcast back to Earth. Knefhausen's theory proves true, but he learns that the crew quickly becomes bored with technological applications of their new-found mathematical prowess. Instead, they become increasingly interested in using it to develop their understanding of art and philosophy. These new understandings give the crew an unusual control over the physical universe and, by the end of the story, they have achieved god-like powers.

Two recurring mathematical themes in the story are Carnap-Ramsey sentences^[6] and Godel encoding.^[7]

The word "starbow" in the story's title is a word coined by one of the characters on the starship. It refers to the rainbow-like effect seen when stars are undergoing a relativistic Doppler effect.^[8]

In the novel the crew of the Constitution exact revenge on Earth by sending a beam of "strange" particles back to the home planet, causing all nuclear materials to melt down harmlessly, reducing the population to poverty in the absence of nuclear power. The last section relates the events surrounding the return of the crew's children to Earth.

Shortly after its original appearance in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, "The Gold at the Starbow's End" became the title story of a collection of Pohl's works. It also appeared in two best-of-the-year anthologies: Best Science Fiction of 1972 (for which Pohl was the editor) and The 1973 Annual World's Best SF.

Since then, it has been anthologized at least six times, including one in Italian translation (under the title "Alpha Aleph"). The story also appears in two collections devoted to Pohl's work: the already-mentioned The Gold at the Starbow's End (1972) and Platinum Pohl (2005).

The Gold at the Starbow's End is a collection of Pohl's stories published in the United States and Canada by Ballantine Books in August 1972. It was published in Britain by Gollancz Science Fiction in June 1973, followed by a paperback edition from Panther Books in January 1975. Contents are as follows:

• "The Gold at the Starbow's End", 1972
• "Sad Solarian Screenwriter Sam", 1972
• "Call Me Million", 1970
• "Shaffery Among the Immortals", 1972
• "The Merchants of Venus", 1972

• "The Gold at the Starbow's End" listing (for the story) at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• The Gold at the Starbow's End listing (for the collection) at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Starburst listing (for the novel) at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database