Pipes and kettledrums herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo, the newly founded village where José Arcadio Buendia and his strong willed wife, Úrsula, have started their new life. As the mysterious Melquíades excites Aureliano Buendia and his father with new inventions and tales of adventure. neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy passes into their hands.

Through plagues of insomnia, civil war, hauntings and vendettas, the many tribulations of the Buendia house hold push memories of the manuscript aside. Few remember its existence and only one will discover the hidden message that it holds