The author and his wife reluctantly accept their young Viennese friend`s inviation to join him on a week`s holiday in Sicily. There they decline his offer to chauffeur them round the island preferring to spend the time quietly in a way more befitting their age. During their sojourn in Sicily the author reminisces recalling many events of his his friend`s and other people`s lives some of them amusing others sad and even strange if not inexplicable.