Gloucester, 2017. New language teacher Julie attends the school's science group, run by Peter, where a chance comment reawakens in her a childhood memory, a dream, where she is looking out over a stretch of water and experiencing feelings of sorrow and loss. As the group discusses parascience and the potential of the undiscovered world, she wonders if there might be more to it than a flight of imagination. London, 1860. George has never questioned his duty to the family fruit and vegetable trade at Covent Garden, but as the business is looking to expand he starts to envision new possibilities. He is torn between loyalty to his family and a desire to be part of the quickly modernising world. Peter and Julie begin a relationship which is troubled by a growing obsession about the past, and ideas that might question established scientific thinking. But could Julie be right about the possible connections between the past and the present? And if so, could there be present-day consequences of an 1867 disaster which occurred on the treacherous ice of Regents Park lake?