In a world out of time, love is an alien concept. With a stressful job, his boss breathing down his neck for profitable results, and an estranged wife and daughter, scientist Kurt Lomax doesn't think life can get much harder, until a nonbinary extraterrestrial with an otherworldly beauty inconveniently shows up at his apartment. Vardam watched the destruction of their own world, and they don't want to see the same thing happen on Earth. They are lonely, and feelings soon develop between them and the supposedly straight scientist--feelings Kurt reciprocates, much to his confusion. The arrival of amateur interpreter Tom Soames--whose Goth appearance belies a gentle heart--is like a ray of sunshine in the somber lab. He acts as matchmaker for man and tentacled extraterrestrial, unwittingly instigating a national crisis when the news breaks out. But will a misunderstanding ruin Kurt and Vardam's chances for happiness together--along with the hope for salvation for humanity?