In a quiet seaside town near Genoa, experts are gathering for a linguistics conference. One speaker, Philipp Perlmann is recently widowed and, struggling to contend with his grief, is unable to complete his keynote address. Desperate, Perlmann decides to plagiarize the work of a Russian colleague who cannot attend, and pass it off as his own. This act leads Perlmann into a maelstrom of lies and deceit, which will lead him to the brink of murder. In this intense psychological drama, the author of Night Train to Lisbon takes the reader on a journey into the depths of human emotion.