The story follows Tom Crowell, a buyer of goods living in Los Angeles, California. As a consequence of weather patterns, he is able to rekindle a relationship with Donna, a woman he was intimate with throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s before the relationship ended.
Turtledove stated that he got the idea while driving in the car, wondering what would happen if the numbers on the air conditioner, representing temperature, represented years instead.
