A thin bright line

Lucybelle, an independent and intelligent Arkansas native, leaves New York City for Chicago in the 1950s after being offered a job as the head of the editorial department for a lab, run by the Army Corps of Engineers, that studies Arctic ice cores to reveal "a story of earth's climate... perfectly preserved, for thousands of years." There, she faces an onslaught of problems as a result of her sexual identity and her presence as a woman at a workplace composed of male scientists. Racial tension arises with the introduction of Stella, a black, well-read, and charismatic photographer, with whom Lucybelle gets involved despite the disapproval of both society and peers.