Alfred Busi, famed and beloved in his town for his music and songs, is now in his sixties, mourning the recent death of his wife and quietly living out his days alone in the large villa he has always called home. The night before he is due to attend a ceremony at the town's avenue of fame, Busi is attacked by a creature he disturbs as it raids the contents of his larder. Busi is convinced that the thing that attacked him was no animal, but a child, "innocent and wild," and his words fan the flames of old rumour--of an ancient race of people living in the bosk surrounding the town--and new controversy: the town's paupers, the feral wastrels at its edges, must be dealt with. Once and for all. As Busi's nephew's ambitious plans for himself and for the town develop he is able to fan the flames of rumour, and soon Busi and the town he loves will be altered irrevocably.