The young American singer Magnolia Brown comes to Vienna to take singing lessons. She moves into a room with her eccentric aunt Pia, who introduces her to all sorts of gruesome Viennese specialties. One day, Magnolia discovers in an old trunk the life story of the maid Rosa Havelka, who was sentenced to death for murder at the end of the 19th century. While engrossed in this fascinating reading, Magnolia almost forgets her lessons with the singing teacher Joseph Horvath, a sensitive and highly musical hypochondriac par excellence. A virtuoso novel about turn-of-the-century Vienna and the present day – and music from beginning to end.