Louis Comfort Tiffany staffs his studio with female artisans--a decision that protects him from strikes by the all-male union--but refuses to employ women who are married. Lucky for him, Clara Driscoll's romantic misfortunes insure that she can continue to craft the jewel-toned glass windows and lamps that catch both her eye and her imagination.

June, 1916. Louis C. Tiffany, the eccentric glass genius, dynamites the breakwater at his fantastical Oyster Bay mansion, so as to foil the town from reclaiming the beach for public use. The explosion shakes the apple crate where Prudence, the daughter of Tiffany's prized gardener, is sleeping and the rocks where Randall, her brother, is playing. Nearly a century later Prudence receives an unexpected visit at her New York apartment from Grace, a hospice...