Anthony Marlin falls in love with Kira Bowker while the young genius spins in laughing abandonment during an incredible monarch butterfly migration. He realizes there is only three problems with this emotion: first he is engaged to Kira’s sister Rachael, second, Kira is too young for what he has in mind. And finally, Anthony has not been selected as part of the crew to a one-way trip to a distant star. After Rachael dies, Anthony, now captain of the Nina, tells Kira he has selected her for his wife. Then, feeling guilt over Rachael’s death, he ignores Kira for five years. He cannot ignore her any longer. She is a distraction everywhere she goes. She accepts a position as Morale Officer. It is her job to shake up the 17,000 people on board, to get them out of their boredom from the sameness of their voyage. At Kira’s request, Anthony finds himself racing piglets across his ship while the crew watch in hilarity. His demanded forfeit is a kiss which has Kira’s toes curling. While the overall morale of the ship improves, Kira realizes something. Anthony is hiding a secret. Captain Marlin’s secret…birthrates are so low as to be non-existent. They need the new generation born soon, for jobs are already going unfilled. Kira suggests that someone on the Captain’s board needs to get married in a big romantic wedding, and be heard to state he wanted a very large family. Kira tells Anthony that he has to be the example. Anthony is still attracted to Kira. He agrees to marry her. The low birthrates are not the only secret Anthony has been hiding. First he believes the Nina’s engines were provided by extraterrestrials, second, he believes all first-born Marlin sons have some sort of alien DNA inside them at least until their first son is born. A crewmember is found embezzling, and then a series of sabotages come to light, including a viral infection of the beef cattle which means the entire herd will have to be destroyed. Using special powers he doesn’t understand and didn’t quite realize he had, Anthony is able to save the herd. Then an explosion in recycling indicates if they are to make it to their destination, Anthony will have to find the culprit and fast. The saboteur is Connor Kahl, the ship’s chief physician. He discovered Anthony’s secret accidentally. He poisoned the cows to make himself a hero while treating the infected crew. Paranoid, he realizes Anthony is an alien and must be destroyed. Also, it is Dr. Kahl’s opinion that the baby Kira carries must be aborted. Anthony is attacked by Connor’s partner, Monique, the embezzler. As Anthony tries to help himself, he realizes he is no longer ‘special’. Whatever it was that he could do before, he no longer can. The power has been transferred to the baby in Kira’s womb. Kira fights Connor, and he is killed. She has tapped into special powers she did not know she possessed, undoubtedly from the fetus, trying to survive. Kira believes Anthony never wanted a child. This is not true. In response to one of her contests to discover what is in the three unopened trunks he brought on board, he shows her children’s toys. Anthony tells her he loves her, and they go off for a three day honeymoon to the stellar observatory, where he will put aside the cares of his position and spend his days and nights loving her.