When Jeremiah Salinger takes his daughter, Clara, to the Bletterbach, a canyon in the Dolomites, he overhears by chance a conversation that gives his life renewed focus. In 1985 three students were murdered there by a killer who was never found. These Italian mountains, where Salinger's wife was born, harbour a close-knit community whose mistrust of outsiders can turn ugly. All the same, solving this mystery might be the only thing that can keep him sane.