One spring day, Don Juan arrives at the garden of a cook who runs a restaurant near the ruins of a French monastery. A friendship blossoms between the two, and during evening gatherings, the adventurous traveler recounts his tales of women, each one possessing indescribable beauty, to his friend.
There are literary characters who are born and never die. Over the years, these characters undergo multiple rebirths, each time assuming a different form and a new dimension. Among these characters is Don Juan, whom Peter Handke revisits in this novel, raising numerous questions and offering his reflections on love, the spirituality of passion, and the passage of time. He shatters the common image of his hero, presenting a new one, claiming that all previous Don Juans were false, and that his own Don Juan is the true and authentic one.
