In a small village at the foot of the Italian Dolomites the gardens of a deserted farmhouse, untouched for decades are being renovated by the new owner Commissario Guido Brunetti is summoned to the house when a mascabre grave is uncovered Although the human corpse is badly decomposed, a valuable signet ring leads Brunetti to an aristocratic family still grieving for their abducted son But Brunetti must learn the secrets of how the young man lived before he can discover why he died