A man, the author himself, travels to the Spanish provincial capital of Soria, in December the "quietest and most discreet place" on the Iberian Peninsula. He wants to write about an object that is very important to him, a jukebox, although he tells himself that more significant topics should be addressed in a time of political upheaval in the East and West. However, in Soria, his search for a jukebox proves fruitless; what he finds is a city he can "engage with," and the opportunity to experiment with a new literary form.