Restless in Manhattan, student Bruno Cadogan heads to the city of his dreams, Buenos Aires, where the inflation crisis of 2001 is beginning to spiral out of control. He is on the trail of Julio Martel, a legendary but elusive singer, who he hopes will inspire and enlighten his writings on the tango. But the moment he meets El Tucumano at the airport, not only does his new friend find him a cheap room in an expensive city, but a place in the very building where Borges set his celebrated story The Adelp. With El Tucumanos unpredicable help, Bruno is increasingly drawn to the mystery of Martel and his strange and evocative performances in a series of apparently arbitrary sites around the city. And as he untangles the story of the singers life, Bruno begins to believe that Martels increasingly rare performances map a dark labyrinth of the citys past.