In prose that is hauntingly spare and beautiful, Basu's fable-like story, set in 1940s German-occupied Poland, is a tale both of loss of childhood innocence and fraternal love. Fifteen-year-old Gracian Sofka is a stargazer. Every night he breaks the curfew to view the constellations from a clearing in the forest until his older brother, Pawel, forbids him to take such risks. When Pawel gives Gracian a telescope, not only does his younger brother begin to uncover Pawel's secret and mysterious past, he also becomes the unwitting catalyst to a violent tragedy.