He is divorced, depressed, and at loose ends in both his professional and personal lives. A well meaning friend, a mathematics teacher, recommends a film to him – as a diversion from his worries. The film, The Race is to the Swift, has a scene with a hotel receptionist that Afonso realizes is his exact twin. Afonso becomes obsessed with finding the actor. He watches a series of movies from the same production company trying to find out the name of his doppelganger. Finally, by chance, he finds the name and contact the actor (who uses the stage name Daniel Santa-Clara but whose real name is Antonio Claro). Through a long, overly discursive, narrative Saramago finally brings Claro and Afonso together. Their meeting sets in motion a series of events that ends in what can properly be called absurdist tragedy.