Ella Marchmil, the imaginative woman of our story, is a sensitive, passionate, and romantic being who publishes her poems using a male pseudonym, while her husband, a businessman and weapons manufacturer, is the exact opposite in terms of temperament and interests. As they both, along with their three children, are on their summer vacation, Ella falls in love with a man she has never seen in her life, and despite her desperate efforts, she will never meet him, thus allowing our story to unfold towards its tragic conclusion.

"The Three Strangers," the second story in the book, is a completely different tale, in which, in contrast to cruelty and injustice, we see the solidarity, compassion, and tolerance of the villagers for the man so harshly condemned to death for such a minor offense.