The Borgesers, as they are called, have come over the mountain to Puntraglia, just from the neighboring valley. But they do not speak German; they speak Italian. The novel is set in Pontresina in the 1930s. The Borgesers have come from the Italian-speaking valley of Puschlav to work for the railway. They live in three houses near the train station, twenty minutes away from the village. The father of the first-person narrator has big plans. Tourism has taken hold, and he begins to rent out rooms. He spends the night with the children in the attic, where they must remain quiet so as not to disturb the guests. In a language of distinctive beauty, Maria Colombo lovingly describes a childhood in the Engadin and growing up between two cultures. She tells of everyday life and celebrations, of work and play, of all kinds of people in all kinds of places.