Liu Xing (Ye Liu), a promising Chinese doctoral candidate accepted into an elite astronomy program in the United States, struggles to adjust to life in his new home. Xing finds an unlikely friend in university donor Johanna Silver (Meryl Streep) and a willing mentor in acclaimed professor Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn). But, when Xing's groundbreaking research begins to contradict Reiser's famed theories, Xing finds his dissertation derailed and his career in science speedily spiraling downward.