Yambo decides to go to Solara, his childhood home, parts of which he has abandoned following a family tragedy, to see if he can rediscover his lost past.

Ready to abandon his quest, he discovers a copy of the original First Folio of 1623 among his grandfather's books, the shock of which causes another incident, during which he relives his lost memories of childhood.

The final section of the book is, therefore, a literary exploration of the traditional phenomenon whereby a person's life flashes before him or her, as Yambo struggles to regain the one memory he seeks above all others: the face of the girl he loved ever since he was a student.

Umberto Eco includes myriad references to both scholarly and popular culture in the book (notably the Flash Gordon strips) and has drawn heavily on his own experiences growing up in Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy.

Like other Eco novels, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana boasts abundant intertextuality.