The solitary proofreader Raimundo da Silva always completes his assigned tasks diligently and on time. For his notes, deletions, and corrections, he relies on his own knowledge and the encyclopedias, dictionaries, and history books around him. He rarely has human contact; his cleaning lady and his employer are his only links to the outside world. However, during a routine final proofread, he suddenly stages a rebellion: instead of dutifully checking a book on the history of Lisbon for errors, he takes it upon himself to change it. This action revolutionizes his life. He becomes an obsessed writer, now penning his own account of the siege of Lisbon. A triumph of imagination over facts. And at the same time, this marks the beginning of a wonderful love story.