Before The novel begins in a small Welsh town in 2013, where Basil Grey, a mechanical engineer and a member of the United Nation's run Institute, has just witnessed his lover, an alien named Kalp, being shot to death in their living room.
He is joined by his wife, Gwen Pierson, and as she tries to convince him that Kalp had betrayed them, Basil has a revelation about a small mechanical device he had seen in the Institutes workrooms, which he has nicknamed a "Flasher".
Evvie's gardening is interrupted when an alien spaceship crash lands in her raspberry patch and the pilot attempts to murder both her and her infant daughter, Gwennie.
With the help Evvie, Basil and Gwen realize that the assassins are time travelling to target Aglunated Institute Employees and as such, Kalp can't have been the traitor.
Overwhelmed with relief and grieving their lost lover, Basil and Gwen return to 2013 to clear Kalp's name and to try to locate the actual traitor.
Part II: Middle Told from Kalp's POV, this section encompasses his first meeting with Basil and Gwen (who are already dating and living together) at the Institute through to his death.
Kalp is assigned to a team with Gwen and Basil, who are working together to try to build a solar power generator based on shared alien technology.
Over the course of the section, it is revealed that Kalp's home planet was destroyed in a natural disaster and a very small ship of refugees was able to escape and seek asylum on Earth.
Kalp receives a vaguely threatening letter from an anonymous stranger and decides that he must attempt to escape the Institute and clear his name.
Desperately lonely and suffering acute culture shock at the beginning of the novel, he learns to adjust to Earth and falls in love with Gwen and Basil, his coworkers at the Institute.
Evvie attempts to be open-minded about her daughter's relationships but doesn't approve of Basil, initially, and his horrified to learn that Gwen is sleeping with an alien.
Agent Aitken – a zealot and bigot who works for the Institute and is disgusted by all humans who fall in love and enter into sexual relationships with the aliens.
"Debut author Frey knocks it out of the park with a remarkable tale of alien refugees, time travel, intrigue, the pervasive madness of grief, and love that transcends culture, gender, and species.
– Publishers Weekly's Rose Fox[1] "Time travel, aliens, and the politics of sexuality combine with tragic violence in Frey's deeply satisfying debut.
Frey tells the story from varying points of view in distinct voices, imagining a world at once completely alien and utterly human.
"—Publishers Weekly Starred Review [2] "A stirring adventure, as well as a tender love story, from a first time author who truly embraces the limitless possibilities the future may bring.
JM Frey's Triptych satisfies any sci-fi reader looking for a different take on the first contact motif, or anyone looking to explore the possible evolution of human sexuality and love."