Ingi Friedlander, a curator from the National Gallery at Cape Town, South Africa, goes to the remote mountain village of Yearsonend to buy a sculpture that has magically appeared overnight. Ingi soon discovers that the town is in the grip of gold fever for a trove that is buried somewhere nearby. She is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the town' s past and slowly befriends Mario Salviati, the deaf, dumb, blind Italian immigrant who holds the key to many of the town' s secrets. Salviati confides in no one until the day of his death, when he leaves a stone with the map inscribed in it for Ingi. In a surprising twist, Ingi leaves both her job and the search for the treasure to pursue her true love, painting. As she leaves Yearsonend, she casts out the window the rock with the secret of the hidden gold. While her presence in the town has brought together people who have long fought over race and money, there is a complex combination of doubt about the people overcoming their differences and the history of apartheid, and an exhilarating sense of freedom and self-discovery which Ingi' s persistent questions have brought to the townspeople.
