Starcatcher is the true story of Williamina ‘Mina’ Fleming, 21 years old, a pregnant Scottish immigrant who finds work as a housemaid for Edward Charles Pickering, Director in Residence at Harvard College Observatory. Pickering is undergoing an extensive research project to classify stellar spectra, but when he declares that "Even his Scottish maid could do a better job" than his team of idle male scientists, Mina rises to the occasion in a way that nobody could have anticipated–going on to discover the Horsehead Nebula and later leaving this residence as the leading female astronomer of her time.