Emails sent to non-existent address in domain

Emails sent to non-existent address in domain

What happens to emails which are sent to an address which is not set up for an existing domain?  For example, if an email is sent to john@example.com but example.com does not have a user set up for john@example.com, what happens to the email?  Does it send a response to the sender or can it be sent to one of the existing accounts in the domain?  Thanks.