Edward Dunstan is an artist obsessed by his muse. Every photograph and every movie conveyed the same meaning: What he wanted to see. His muse waited in vain for him to see her as she was, but he could not. And so, like the mermaid in his latest movie who grew legs and left him, so does his muse. For months his days and nights are filled with watching her on the screen. His anger turns to self-pity... turns to acceptance... Only now does he understand what he put her through. When his latest letter to her is returned, he binds himself in chains and climbs into the very tank of water his muse spent many unhappy hours.

In one of the most magical stories ever told, a bright star led the wise men from the east to the new Messiah. Now scientists are looking back into the skies of the ancient world to find out if the magi could have witnessed a real astronomical event.
Could the star of Bethlehem have been a comet, an alignment of planets or even a supernova? Who were the wise men, and why were they watching the night skies? Could evidence from a clay tablet from Babylon, an ancient manuscript from China, a fresco in the Catacombs of Rome and biblical texts help to finally unravel the greatest astronomical story in history?