[Groff] Vim/formatting question (WordPerfect files)

[Clarke Echols]

This is only partly on/off topic, but I need help with a messy
little problem.

I have been asked to evaluate a book project with the possibility
that I will be producing it for publication.  The author sent me
a WordPerfect file (.wpd suffix) that my Microsoft stuff won't read.
Like Word, it's a binary file that has the text embedded in it.

Words are separated by a single character that displays in vim as
a (blue) couple of characters: ( ~@ ) and there are other characters
showing up as ( ^U, ^^, ^@, ) etc.    I know how to do regular
expression search and replace for control characters like ^U, but
this ~@ stuff is something I don't know how to specify in a search
string.

Any clues?  Or an easy way to convert this to plain text without
buying a bunch of software?

I'm a vim/groff bigot and don't like canned "authoring" software--
especially if I have to pay for it. :-)

Thanks,

Clarke