Her mother died when she was eight leaving her eccentric, painter-of-clouds father in abject grief and selfishly unable to mitigate her loss. When her outlandish Aunt Sophronia visits bringing all manner of exotic totems from her travels around the world: Bethlehem gravitates to that one object that may breach the divide between her and her father.  A Whirling Psychrometer: a cloud predictor. Instead of breaching the gap, it sends Bethlehem on an otherworldly journey.