Long fascinated by the movements of the twelve bodies in the sky, powerful statesman Liege Jyrus Syroon has tracked them for more than twenty years. However, he finds himself conflicted when Lennis Maifa, a young, renegade scientist, seeks refuge in his house for heresy.
Maifa is eager to study Syroon's measurements in the hope of uncovering proof for his outrageous theories: that their planet is not the center of the universe. What is more, their world and sun are retreating from what Maifa calls "the Sky Wheel" galaxy.
Enthralled by the young man's ideas, Syroon shelters Maifa from Eminence Aranka, an Inquisitor determined to repress the young man's discoveries.
When Syroon's blind but high-spirited daughter falls in love with Maifa, Syroon cannot escape a direct confrontation with Aranka, which could result in a religious war.
