Gaetano De Nittis, from Puglia, is thirty-four years and is Captain of the most "hated" Body of Italy: the Guardia di Finanza (Tax Force). But, however, he loves his job. Of course, it is made of arid tax material, of violations in the lives of common people, but at the same time it gives him the opportunity to fully understand their stories, to grasp their most intimate and often dramatic aspects. And then his work becomes more human... He was recently moved from Naples to Ferrara. He does not have many friends so in his spare time he takes refuge in his beloved guitar, playing good jazz, like Django Rheinardt, his idol, and good cooking (but he hates the sweet Tortelli with Pumpkin!). Affected by Botola Syndrome (after love he would like to act a device that will sink the poor woman to the center of the earth), it is single by choice (so avoid trouble). And anyway, he has no much time left in order to attend love affair, because one of De Nittis's defects is drowsiness: everything has to go back to its place, in order.

During a routine investigation, he discovered the dead body of Uber Montanari, an antiquarian with ambiguous personality, protected by members of the high Ferrara bourgeoisie with whom he had business relations that were not always lawful. But the true secret of the antiquarian, highly educated and misanthropic, is tied to his insatiable desire to collect secretly forbidden works of art. His passion is somehow linked to the mystery of his apparently undemocratic suicide.

With his friend Bonfatti, Journalist of the local newspaper, and with his own boss, Colonel Gherardi, in a splendid Ferrara rich in art but full of contradictions and mysteries, will arrive in a unpredictable end to the unexpected solution. As unexpected it will be the meeting with the beautiful Rosa Serrani...