After being pressed by a student, Biology Professor Henry Darden admits that he finds Darwin’s emphasis on natural selection as the means of evolution “unconvincing”. This public confession thrusts Professor Darden into a culture war he wanted nothing to do with. As different sides claim him as their own, the collisions of science, faith and intellectual intolerance take a toll even on his family life as the controversy opens up both new and old wounds at home.
The Third Side examines the difficulty in pursuing truth when individuals have their very identities invested in the conclusions. It is a painful lesson to Professor Darden as he realizes that simply being “right” may not be as important as he always thought.