Returning to his home town after the death of the grandfather who raised him, slick and cynical Wall Street trader Will Martin feels decidedly out of place, and not at all in tune with the Christmas preparations being made by the local citizenry. But Will isn't really taking a sentimental journey at all: He's merely in town to modernize and streamline his family's real-estate company. While going through his grandfather's effects, Will and his grandmother come across the old man's diary--which reveals a lengthy relationship with a woman named Lillian.

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is 75 years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.