In 15th-century Florence, Italy, when Pippo the Fool claims he will win a contest to design a dome for the town's cathedral, everyone laughs at him. Based on a true story.

In the wake of her father's death, Rose Newlin finds solace in her work as a book restorer. Then, one rainy Connecticut afternoon, a struggling painter appears at her door. William Lomazzo brings with him a sixteenth-century treatise on art, which Rose quickly identifies as a palimpsest: a document written over a hidden diary that had purposely been scraped away. Yet the restoration sparks an unforeseen challenge when William--a married man--and Rose...