John Billeter, known as JB, an internationally renowned expert in Oriental civilizations, has agreed to return to Sri Lanka at the request of the UNESCO to decode a book of crystal, a treatise on memory that Buddha dictated in his old age. The book has been discovered near the Tamil-dominated part of the island and it lays down a challenge for JB whose past is overshadowed by his wife's suicide. He met her in Sri Lanka, where they fell in love before the tragedy occurred. He meets several remarkable characters on the war-torn island...