An old man returns from Russia and pays a visit to his brother. Nothing unusual about that – except this is their first meeting ever.

The main character in this novel grew up in Spain in the heart of a family he thought to be his own. The sudden discovery that he has a brother will drive him to revisit his past. He gets lost into the labyrinth of his childhood: a landscape inhabited by furtive love stories, heroes and murderers, the oppressive shadow of military discipline and a terrible family secret – a secret he was always aware of but never able to uncover. Only this time, his brother has handed him the key to unlock it. A journey to the roots of a family secret in a world ruled by pitiless, arbitrary power.