A young woman in Chicago who radiates happiness. She lives completely without anger, and all her friends and acquaintances revolve around her. However, she comes from Algeria, a cauldron of violence and counter-violence, from which she barely escaped. Does she know the secret of happiness? Does she even possess the "happiness gene"? Laboratories and television shows are vying for her attention, a carousel that spins faster and faster until she risks losing everything. Richard Powers has masterfully crafted a great novel that explores the question of what determines our lives - the stars, our parents, or is everything in our genes? With a tender love story, he seeks the answer: Does the future reach for us, or do we reach for the future?.