It is the year 1643, and the Thirty Years' War rages across Europe. Against his will, Roberto de La Grive becomes an explorer in search of the prime meridian, the essential reference point for precise navigation on Earth. A hurricane washes him onto an abandoned research ship drifting near the Fiji Islands. On this floating cabinet of curiosities, he encounters a quirky companion of fate and has plenty of time to imagine his own ominous love, life, and doppelgänger story. A historical panorama, a love story, and an adventure novel - Eco reinvents the vast cosmos of an entire century.