As the days flow into weeks, and weeks become months, Rion finds Annie slowly becoming more and more despondent with homesickness, melancholy, and the growing need to see her home world again. His own fears escalate, knowing that if she returns, he will never be able to follow her. If she is taken back, he will never see her again. But she is an "otherworlder," and their laws dictate she cannot be forced to remain. If her wish is to go back to Earth, he has no choice but to let her. But when fate sends a messenger through the gap during a massive, destructive storm, Rion is forced to fight to keep what he cannot live without. Now it's a battle between saving their love and their marriage, or giving her up and relinquishing her to the arms of another man. A man from Earth.