Twenty-three years before this novel begins, Philip Latinowicz, still a schoolboy living in Kaptol, runs away from home with a hundred florin note stolen from his mother, which he spends on women and booze for three days and three nights.
Upon his return to Kaptol in the present day, Philip struggles to reconcile his relationship with his mother, whose obsession with perfumes and elite society now threatens to drive him crazy.
The two fail to find common ground; when Philip attempts to paint his mother, she is disgusted by his less-than positive view of her and condemns the project.
Even more, he hates her new lover, Dr. Liepach of Kostanjevec, who he finds pretentious and conceited, despite his obvious charms and kind gestures.
The depraved drunkenness and wild nature of the crowd inspires Philip to imagine a painting, depicting the townspeople sinning in the name of their god.
Bobočka introduces Philip to an entirely different side of Kaptol, made up of Baločanski, her former and current lovers, and a vibrant night life.
Kyriales' erudite critiques baffle Philip, who finds himself almost wanting to believe that painting has become a degenerate practice.
Unable to articulate a retort as elegantly as he would have hoped, Philip is forced to reflect inwardly after the conversation, asking himself why he paints and what he gets from his artistic endeavors.
The novel has been translated to English, French, German, Dutch, Slovene, Swedish, Slovakian, Macedonian, Czech, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Italian and Spanish.
[3] In a 2010 poll of 40 Croatian intellectuals for the greatest Croatian novels of all time, compiled by Jutarnji list daily, The Return of Philip Latinowicz came in 3rd, after Ranko Marinković's Kiklop (Cyclops) and Slobodan Novak's Mirisi, zlato i tamjan (Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh).