As World War II draws to a close, a young woman fleeing France gains passage on a troop freighter in exchange for sex. Put ashore, penniless and in Ireland, 18-year-old Bernadette gives birth to an exceptional boy, Frankie Starlight. Through the kindness of Dublin customs officer Jack Kelly (Gabriel Byrne "The Usual Suspects," "Millers Crossing"),Bernadette (Anne Parillaud "Man in the Iron Mask," "La Femme Nikita") is able to raise Frankie (Corban Walker "How to Cheat in the Leaving Certificate"), an intelligent child with dwarfism. Jack nurtures Frankie's love of the stars, sparking a lifelong, mystical obsession with the cosmos that endures even when Bernadette marries an American soldier and takes Frankie to Texas. As an adult, Frankie weaves astronomy and his mother's story into a novel that propels him from isolation to celebrity.
