Nothing is as it used to be: Although fascism is over, the old bourgeois order has fallen apart. What is Edgardo supposed to do to overcome his paralysis? Very early in the morning, Edgardo gets up to go hunting, even though it is actually too cold for that. But he has to do something. His wife bores him, his little daughter leaves him feeling helpless, his farm workers are rehearsing for a revolt, and he has become estranged from his nephew, who joined the fascists. When he finally reaches his destination after many obstacles and shoots at a heron, he cannot shake the feeling that he is, in a sense, shooting at himself. A magnificent novel about the inability to cope with a changed world.