A delicate pull, painful and sweet. A burning desire of unprecedented intensity. Full of hope - and yet insatiable? Who does not know the power of longing ... for distance or the return home, for the sea or the mountains, for freedom and redemption. For the presence of a person, for perfect love and fusion. "The darkest and thus deepest aspect of human nature is longing," wrote Schelling. Monika Helfer, Franz Hohler, Root Leeb, Michael Köhlmeier, Natasa Dragnić, and Rafik Schami explore this longing, uncovering the mystery of its power, the forms of its expression, its effects, and its aims. They tell stories of people who surrender to it, fight against it, succumb to it, lose their roots in reality and the present, or experience the joy of fulfillment: in short stories filled with linguistic sensitivity, poetry, and emotion.