These ten stories offer a stunning vision of contemporary American suburbia, littered with tension, heartbreak and revelations. Andrew Porter's stories take readers across the country - from rural Pennsylvania to Southern California to the quiet streets of Connecticut. At the heart of each story characters struggle to find meaning in their daily lives. Among them a college student searches for her soul mate, a young man reconstructs the memory of a friend's deadly fall, and two neighbours share an intimate secret. Andrew Porter's The Theory of Light and Matter is the work of an important new voice in American fiction.