Southern Italy, a summer on the Amalfi Coast. Due to a breakdown of their boat, a group of young Americans find themselves staying in a hotel frequented by elderly tourists who are not particularly inclined to have fun. There they meet Raúl, a reserved and inscrutable character, always sitting apart with his notebook. Until one day he approaches their table: noticing that Mark is visibly suffering from a shoulder injury, he places his hand on the sore spot, relieving the discomfort. Not content with this, he goes on to reveal personal, even intimate, details about everyone present, information that no one could ever have known...

To win over the young people, taken aback by his uncomfortable truths, he extols the wonders of the area: an area he has been visiting in the summer since he was a child, full of references to the world of mythology, such as the Lugentes Campi, the fields of tears, where unhappy lovers wander, remembering their heartbreak. The only one in the group who does not seem to be charmed by his charm and rhetoric is Margot, whom Raúl initially called by what he believed to be her real first name, Maria.

But as the hours and days pass, after shared lunches and long walks on the beach, Margot begins to trust him, to open up... And Raúl will take her on a journey back in time, to a past that binds them very closely together. A story of love and mystery will take shape, marked by that delicate depth in recounting feelings that is André Aciman’s unmistakable trademark.