Former Latin teacher Raimund Gegorius boards the night train to Lisbon, carrying with him a book by Amadeu de Prado, with whose work he becomes obsessed, and journeys all over the city in search of the truth about the author.
Relates the World War II experiences of Michael Stolovitski, who, as a young Jewish boy in Poland during World War II, was placed in the care of his Catholic nanny, Gertruda Bablinska, after the death of his mother.