At the age of 71, a highly regarded Portuguese writer, José Cardoso Pires (2 October 1925 - 26 October 1998), suffers a major stroke and loses his memory and the ability to relate to the rest of the world. Everybody seems to defy the famous author to write another novel that recounts this adventure telling his "last story", the most conclusive of his career, the one of his accidental journey to the clear shadows territory.