While making routine inquiries into a possible bribery case, Commissario Brunetti receives a call from his wife, Paola. The deaf-mute man who worked at the Brunettis' dry cleaners has been found dead. An empty bottle of pills points to suicide, but Paola is unconvinced. To the neighbourhood he was the ›boy‹ who helped out, but nobody knew even his name. That a soul could have lived such a lonely life is too much for Paola to bear. She begs her husband to do something, anything...