A work of fiction which touches on genetics and the environment, and the concept of time in terms of both quantum physics and nostalgia. The book is not a work of science fiction in the traditional sense but rather a work of fiction involving factual science. Although the main events take place today, in Manchester and Venice, there are others from the 1950s and '60s in Manchester. The story opens with a strange find by two children in Manchester during the 1950s. The scene changes to today and a chance meeting between strangers, one the daughter of one of the children. The world of DNA and the environment is discussed and events move to the city of Venice and two failed scientific experiments. Readers are reminded of the mechanisms of Nature and the concept 'time', and warned of the dangers of trying to interfere with them.