The locale resembles Rhodes, and the major protagonist is a youth, Sotiris, who rejects the self-centered avarice of his relatives, all members of a wealthy family who are dominated by Orsetta, their vindictive matriarch. Orsetta’s power lies in her often-repeated reminder that she alone knows the whereabouts of a secret treasure that is hidden on the island. The tensions involved with this atmosphere causes Sotiris to run away to a large city, where he loses himself in an international dropout society. The rich decadence of this Mediterranean port almost destroys the boy, despite the blandishments of a seductive girl, already corrupted by the hashish-haze of life. When Sotiris flees back to his family’s island, he discovers that Orsetta has died, but not without revealing that Sotiris also knows the secret of the treasure. Gradually, the relatives turn toward the boy with the same repressed hostilities they had displayed toward the old woman.
