Thomas Burns is an old man hungry for adventure. He has held a fantasy in his heart for decades, to go for a ride on an alien spaceship. One spring day, as he sat alone in a field, the ship finally landed, and he was off into the universe. His host beings are made of water, and they speak music! Their analysis of Thomas gives him the ability to see them and to speak their language. They treat Thomas to examinations of their technology and the wonders of the universe, and they examine Thomas's life as part their studies of other species in the universe. Through dangers, sad times, and vexations, there is beauty, the beauty of nature, the beauty of the soul, and beautiful eternal love.