Adrian of Tarsus loves his daughter, Mariel. In a universe ruled by superstition and malice, it's the only thing he can be certain of. The White Light of Tomorrow is a story about love and respect shared by a father and daughter, how it improves them, and how it empowers them in an actively hostile universe.

A veteran Knight-Hospitaler in the service of the universal Church, Adrian is a very unlikely father whose problems are compounded by the knowledge that Mariel is dying from a mental ailment unknown to medicine. Adrian and the crew of his spaceship, the Miranda, survive a clandestine meeting and bloody ambush on a backwater planet where he at last acquires the relic of ancient, heretical technology he hopes will save Mariel's life. That's when the swords come out. Along with fists, daggers, crossbows, and poison. Adrian's initial victory leads to betrayal by a close companion and sets in motion a breakneck adventure through a weirdly familiar future in which Crusading knights face Ottoman Janissaries while spies and scoundrels ply their trades in filthy alleys and rich drawing rooms.

Adrian and Mariel's story culminates in an incredible archaeological discovery and a deadly confrontation with the Church's most dangerous--and most unstable--Inquisitor. Along the way, they wrestle with allies and enemies including a secretive engineering guild, a beautiful publican with something risky up her sleeve, a dog with a taste for ale, and a somewhat ethereal scientist and her mad computer. In the end, though, Mariel herself may prove to be Adrian's most confounding opponent.