In his palace in a city vanquished by the years, the Duke Gonzaga lives consumed by his passion for young girls and his deep boredom.
Time passes as marked by the more than two hundred clocks situated throughout the palace.
When the old hourmaster and his successor both disappear, Gonzaga employs Arturo who becomes the new keeper of the palace's timepieces. There seems to be the beginning of new life in the realm. The hourmaster marries happily and fathers a daughter. Among the many authors Richard Howard has translated from the French are Baudelaire, Cocteau, Gide, Gracq, Barthes, Foucault, Yourcenar, and Stendhal. This manner also gives Annam the punchy moral force of fable.