Dome is an object based parallel programming environment for heterogeneous distributed networks of machines. This paper gives a brief overview of Dome. We show that Dome programs are easy to write. A description of the load balancing performed in Dome is presented along with performance measurements on a cluster of DEC Alpha workstations connected by a DEC gigaswitch. A Dome program is compared with a sequential version and one written in PVM. We also present an overview of architecture independent checkpoint and restart in Dome.