This strange story began on the morning of March 21 in the city of Waston, Virginia, and unfolded between close friends who were also rivals—Dr. Sidney Guedelson and Mr. Dean Forsythe, both consumed by one passion: astronomy. Their rivalry, though it somewhat clouded their friendship, nevertheless did not stop them one fine day from setting the wedding date of Mr. Forsythe’s nephew—Francis Gordon—who had been raised in his uncle’s house since infancy, and of Dr. Guedelson’s daughter—Jenny.
Over time, the desire to discover some celestial body first took over all of Sidney’s and Dean’s thoughts; the rivalry won out, relations between the two families began to deteriorate, and old friends would no longer visit one another. But on that fateful morning they almost simultaneously witnessed the fall to Earth of a golden meteor—whose appearance, besides triggering a worldwide financial catastrophe, threatened to break once and for all the wedding carriage of Francis and Jenny!