Mima Taro is a writer who has hit a slump. Tired of city life, he moves into the house he inherited from his father in the mountainous Hayabusa. When he joins the fire brigade, he becomes involved in a series of arson cases and suspicious incidents. As Taro searches for the truth, a huge conspiracy comes to the surface.

Northern Italy, 1327. The Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young apprentice Adso of Melk reach an isolated Benedictine abbey on the Alps to aid in a dispute between the Franciscan Order and the Avignon papacy. Upon arrival at the abbey, the two find themselves involved in a chain of mysterious deaths.