It is 1845, and Hannah Gardner Price dreams of a world infinitely-larger than the small Quaker community where she has lived all twenty five years of her life - for, as an amateur astronomer, she secretly hopes to discover a comet and win the King of Denmark's prize for doing so.
Then she meets Isaac Martin, a young black whaler from, the Azores who, like Hannah herself, has ambitions beyond his station. Drawn to him despite their differences, Hannah agrees to tutor Isaac in the art of navigat...