Plot Summary

On the last voyage of the Italian ocean liner EUGENIO C. from Genoa to Rio de Janeiro, Zurich-based ethnologist Roger Wiedmer meets Brazilian Zaira Gelbert. He wants to repeat the journey to the Indians of the Amazon described by Claude Lévy-Strauss in "Tristes Tropiques" some forty years later and begins with the first chapter: "La fin des voyages." Zaira Gelbert returns to her roots in her homeland after a two-year stay in Europe. The love story between the two—which lasts the eleven days of the crossing—becomes a dialogue between two cultures. The encounter with Zaira opens Roger's eyes. Now he perceives the sea, the ship, and above all the passengers with their stories. He meets emigrants, poets, first-class passengers, tourists, crew members, priests. A stowaway is also traveling with them.