The brooding, introverted Count von O- arrives in Venice during the carnival in order to escape from his duties and live incognito. But after encountering an enigmatic Armenian stranger who makes an uncanny pronouncement, a bizarre chain of events unfolds, involving a Jesuit secret society, a ghostly seance and a mysterious Sicilian magician leading the Count to question his faith and morality.

First serialized in 178789, this multilayered, fragmentary novel which gave Friedrich Schiller a platform to expound his Enlightenment ideas on society and religion has thrilled and engaged lovers of Gothic literature for over two centuries.