America was ablaze with millennial anticipation in 1844. Reflecting upon Scriptural prophecy, signs in the heavens, and the gospel of the kingdom having been preached to all nations, religious leaders expected Christ’s return was imminent. Hundreds of thousands of laypeople also looked to the skies in joyous anticipation, or dread.

Clearly, their expectations were not fulfilled; were these wrong, or simply misunderstood? In New Jersey, devout Quaker Josiah Thompson is convinced the answers lie in the Holy Land but is too aged to travel. So his son Zach and British scholar James Lawrence take up the quest, only to realise the question is far larger than they imagined. And what they discover will have profound implications for not only for them, but all humanity as the modern age unfolds.