Central Europe in the early 17th Century is a roiling cauldron of brilliant scientific advancements and entrenched religious superstition. Struggling mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler struggles to prove his revolutionary theories while earning a meager living as a court astrologer. With the assistance of a seductive noblewoman and a wealthy but eccentric Danish astronomer, he comes tantalizingly close, but must abandon his work when his mother is subjected to a witch trial and he must return home to defend her in court. The unflagging quest for truth in the face of overwhelming ignorance is the mark of a true genius, but at what price?