A writer rents a house to write a ghost story. The house, a sprawling villa hidden in a corner of the Po Valley, is an ugly thing nobody could ever want to live in, which is probably why the rent is so low. That, and a clause in the agreement, which allows the enigmatic Institute of Applied Psycholalia to convene once a week in the dining room downstairs.

As he explores the estate, the writer finds an unnamed grave in the park, and an artificial grotto where an eerie melody can be heard – the same melody he hears from behind the locked door to the attic.

When he finally meets the members of the Institute and realises what they’re trying to do – commune with the dead – he becomes convinced that the house, and perhaps the entire valley, is haunted.