An overwhelming novel about loss and humanity, touching and captivating. Dreams are fragments of reality. This is what teacher Nani Sapienza knows when he dreams of a girl who resembles his deceased daughter. After hearing about the missing Lucia on the radio the next morning, he becomes convinced that she appeared to him in his dream. Lucia has vanished without a trace, and after weeks of fruitless searching, the police and her parents give up. Only Nani does not stop with his conclusions and obsessive inquiries, drawing the suspicion of the small town upon himself - but he inspires his fourth-grade students, who can never get enough of their teacher's wondrous tales, to think deeply. The search for Lucia soon becomes a search for oneself.