Inspector Montalbano investigates between the imaginary Vigàta and Tindari, the promontory overlooking the sea "with the small, mysterious Greek theater and the beach in the shape of a hand with pink fingers". A triple murder has occurred - a young Don Juan who lived beyond his apparent means, two elderly pensioners buried in their home who suddenly decide to take a trip to Tindari. They are connected, it seems, only by a condominium. But Montalbano has a curse, he can read the signs that come from the very ancient that lives in the very modern continent of Sicily: he is helped by an old twisted olive tree, his team, the Swedish Ingrid, a book by Conrad, and an Unnamed without repentance.