When Rita's body is found hanging in the belfry of the church she devoted herself to, the investigation is swiftly closed. But her mother, Elena, refuses to accept the police's version of what happened, and, despite the physical limitations imposed by her illness, embarks on a journey to call in an old debt.

Unfolding over a single day, Elena's arduous trek across Buenos Aires forces her to redefine everything she thought she knew about her relationship with her daughter, while confronting her with the ramifications of a fleeting encounter twenty years earlier. Written in an engrossing style that recalls John Cheever and Thomas Bernhard, this is a moving novel about hypocrisy that asks us if we can still change our views late in life and find a will to go on, despite our failing bodies.