Set in Berlin in the 1920s, the story follows the narrator in his distressful, flurried pursuit of the real identity of a man called Smurov who, like the narrator himself, puts in a regular appearance among a circle of acquaintances Each person he meets reflects a different Smurov, whose character seems to change Do these reflections illumine or obscure the real identity of the man? The puzzle leads through a 'hell of mirrors' to the final chilling denoument