The Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, followed by translator and guide Eugenia, is currently traveling researching the life of an 18thcentury Russian composer. Within a ancient spa town, he also matches with the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had their or her own family to save them from the evils of the world. Seeing some profound truth in Domenico's act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of fantasies, his ambivalent feelings for Italy and Eugenia and his longing for his wife, the poet nostalgia for his homeland, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.