The plot concerns Michael, a professional violinist, who never forgot his love for Julia, a pianist he met as a student in Vienna.

They meet again after a decade, and conduct a secret affair, though she is married and has one child.

Their musical careers are affected by this affair and the knowledge that Julia is going deaf.

[citation needed] Paolo Isotta, one of Italy's most significant music critics, wrote in the influential newspaper Il Corriere della Sera of the Italian translation that no European writer had ever shown such a knowledge of European classical music, nor had any European novel before managed to convey the psychology, the technical abilities, even the human potentialities of those who practise music for a living.

Among these are the Trout Quintet by Franz Schubert, the String Quintet in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven, and The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams.