Constantine Ostas, a university professor, is spending his holidays at his home village with his family. One very hot noon on August the 13th, he gets his books and archives and lies down in the garden under the shady pergola. There, he is overwhelmed by thoughts that turn into vivid memories and bring him back exactly 12 years ago at the same place. His memories begin from the day that he, as a graduate of the university, visits the house of his fellow villager Helen, who is a student at the School of Philosophy in the University of Athens and to whom he had been closely acquainted two years ago. The memories are interrupted abruptly when the scene of the tragedy at the rocks is introduced.