On a stormy night, Ted Tice arrives at Peverel, the house where sisters Grace and Caro Bell are staying with the Thrales, who are the parents of Grace’s fiancé Christian. Ted, a scientist, is there as an apprentice to elderly Professor Sefton Thrale. He notes that while Caro is striking, Grace is conventionally beautiful.

The sisters are Australian and are staying with the Thrales until Caro settles into her government job in London. Sefton Thrale pretends to be happy about his son’s engagement to an Australian girl, though he holds patronizing views about this former British colony.

Ted develops an unrequited crush on Caro. Caro is sparky and indifferent, saying that she does not care for science, Ted’s field.

Mrs. Thrale’s godson, Paul Ivory, comes up in conversation at dinner. Paul is a poet’s son, a literature professional, and the soon-to-be fiancé of a lord’s daughter. He is coming to stay with the Thrales. When Caro says that she does not care about science, Sefton Thrale tells her that “[she] owe[s] [her] existence to astronomy” (15), as Australia would have never been colonized by the British if Captain James Cook had not chanced upon it during a voyage to Tahiti to see the planet Venus’s transit (15).