Fearful Symmetry is the first third of a science-fiction novel looking at humanity sans nature. After the Earth has been reduced to crumbling rock and acidic water, human beings are the only living organism left. They survive on metal platforms, suspended above the toxic water, and rely on scientific advancement to provide for their needs. However, after eight generations of this way of life, one man questions the value of their existence, disturbed by all that has been lost. And two people close to him try to find the technological advances that could return that which has been lost.