One day, someone opened a window and stepped outside. It was the top floor; the outcome was fatal. A meticulous investigator tries to determine what really happened: was it suicide or not, was there outside involvement, whom the deceased communicated with, whom he lived with, what impression he made on people—and, ultimately, who he truly was. Colleagues and neighbors, casual acquaintances and old friends willingly share their memories and observations, and a strange, whimsical portrait emerges—one that resembles not so much a real person as a literary character.