When a gigantic damaged spaceship suddenly appears over Ottawa requesting assistance the world is thrown into confusion. Why are they really here? If they are having problems, what caused the damage? Then there is the Thorncroft family: Paul is feeling depressed and gets sucked up into a spaceship. Lucile and her ex-military girlfriends are bored and looking for a fight, romance, or something to break up the monotony. Their mother, Martha, is trying to hold the family together while she deals with her husband's PTSD and alcoholism. Everyone else is trying to discover the alien's secrets and befriend them, or destroy them and anyone who has dealings with them. Politics and uncommon sense collide.