This is a story of being true to yourself. It is one thing to gain sufficient insight to know yourself; it is quite another to summon the courage to create a new self. That central action evolves in the context of family conflicts, love affairs and personal losses, alpine adventures, recognizing a forgotten genius of the Renaissance, and fending off the Mafia. The story involves achievement and suffering, generosity and selfishness, boredom and danger, learning and secrets. Ultimately, there is resolution. Is it the result of patient persistence? Or, perhaps, the gift of fickle fate?