In nineteenth-century Italy, an old, secluded chateau in the Apennines offers shelter for the night to a wounded traveler and his valet. Among the paintings in a dim chamber, the traveler notices a young woman whose portrait seems strikingly alive. An old account beside the image leads him toward the story of an artist and his wife, raising questions about love, artistic devotion, and the point at which the pursuit of beauty begins to overshadow the life that inspires it.
