Fiorentino Ariza is a hopeiess romantic who falls passionately for the beautiful Fermina Daza, but finds his love tragicaliy rejected. Instead Fermina marries a distinguished doctor, while Fiorentino can only wait silently for her. He can never forget his first and oniy true love. Then, fifty-one years, nine months and four days later, Fermina's husband dies unexpectedly. At last Fiorentino has another chance to declare his feelings and discover if a passion that has endured for haif a century will remain unrequited, in a rich, fantastical and humane celebration of love in all its many forms. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature