"Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits--torn between their commitment to religion and their desire to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community. It is two romantic relationships that will rend their friendship, and in the wake of this rupture, Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished nineteenth-century astronomer...

"Beyond the skyline of Toledo stands the Toledo Institute of Astronomy, ... a beacon of scientific learning for astronomers far and wide. One of these is George Dermont, ... who's trying to prove the scientific existence of a Gateway to God ... Its newest star is Irene Sparks, a pragmatist and mathematician invited to lead the Institute's work on a massive superconductor being constructed below Toledo. This would be a scientist's dream come true,...