Róisín and François are immediately drawn to each other when they meet at a remote research base in Antarctica. At first glance, the pair could not be more different. Róisín, a daughter of Ireland and a peripatetic astronomer, joins the science team to observe the fracturing of a comet overhead. François, the base’s chef, has just left his birthplace in Bayeux, France, for only the second time in his life. Yet devastating tragedy and the longing for a fresh start, as well as an indelible but unknown bond that stretches back centuries, connect them to each other.