In 2015, NASA's Kepler space observatory identified a planet, dubbed Kepler-452b, as having similar qualities to Earth - that is, potentially habitable. The downside, of course, was that it was 1400 light years from us.
It would take another 14 years before science cracked the code, faster-than-light quantum propulsion, making it possible to cover such distances in a matter of years, not tens of centuries. However, mankind's propensity for war has also, by this time, pushed the world to the edge, where geopolitical powers are facing off in what will inevitably be the war to end all wars - all things.
Jim Tale, the last man you'd ever expect to be commanding the largest ever space vehicle, the Evolution, wakes up years into the journey in preparation for their arrival at K-452b or "New Earth" and with the help of the ship's Ai, CASS, prepares for landing on a planet that could become home to humanity, assuming humanity has not blown itself up into space dust in the meantime.
What they encounter, no one could ever have predicted. The best minds of Earth's combined space agencies never saw this coming, and to that end, neither did Jim Tale.
The journey that ensues is truly a modern-day space odyssey, taking Jim and his crew, with the help of CASS, deep into the Universe, and for Jim, a truth-seeker, someone who joined NASA to hopefully find the answers to existence and Creation, an unbelievable encounter.