Pipes herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo where José Arcadio Buendía and his wife have started their new life. Neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the gypsy Melquíades passes them. Plagues of insomnia, civil war, hauntings and vendettas push memories of the manuscript aside. Few remember its existence and only one will discover the hidden message that it holds . . .