When a brilliant young academic is sabotaged during his oral examination for a PhD in dramatic theory he travels to a medieval hilltown in the Molise province of Italy to bind his wounds. There, in the town of Larino in a 14th century tower, he runs headlong into a disturbing mystery, falls in love, and struggles to regain his sense of equilibrium and his damaged career as a university professor. Set against the brilliant and sunlit countryside of Molise and the contrasting greyness of Canadian academic life, the story follows a well-meaning young man and his fight against a largely unseen enemy.