The year is 1990, and Montalbano is deputy inspector in a remote village in the Sicilian mountains. A local thug with a history of theft is murdered and the evidence points to an elderly shepherd as the killer. In the meantime Montalbano is promoted to inspector and transferred to the seaside town of Vigàta, where he grew up. There he stumbles upon a piece of evidence that solves the case in the mountains, and also unravels the mystery of why a girl attempted to murder a judge.

The owner of the hotel in which Montalbano is living is shot dead on New Year's Eve. Was it an accident or something more sinister? Also, a dying woman's last words leads him to re-open a 40-year-old murder case, which may have resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

Montalbano clashes with his new deputy "Mimì" Augello when they investigate two unusual cases; in the first a box of worthless beer bottle caps are stolen from the house of a compulsive hoarder, and in the second a small child is apparently kidnapped, only to be released two hours later without any ransom demand being made.