An editor discovers a novel, which he considers a masterpiece, in a library whose particularity is to collect manuscripts rejected by the editors. The text is signed by Henri Pick, a pizza maker who died two years earlier. However, according to his widow, this man has never read a book in his life, nor has he written anything other than a shopping list. Was it a hoax? illuminated by this mystery the novel becomes a best seller. A famous literary critic decides to lead the investigation, with the unexpected help of the enigmatic Henri Pick's daughter.