Commissario Brunetti takes a break on an island in the laguna. There he meets Davide Casati, the caretaker of the house he's staying in. Together, Brunetti and Casati spend their days rowing and visiting Casati's bees. But during a big storm Casati goes missing. Eventually, Brunetti and the local authorities find Casati's boat... and his body, drowned, tangled up in a rope. Brunetti begins to investigate and discovers an accident that happened over twenty years ago...
