The round-faced Rhinelander Altfried Janich finds a position in the East Castle, an old Baroque building that now houses a psychiatric institution, after the reunification. Here, he sees it as his duty to take the position of the sun for his patients and to provide them with orientation. When his friend Odilo dies in a mysterious car accident, he himself falls into the shadowy side of things. Patients become too close for comfort, memories haunt him, and his family history catches up with him. All the stories of his life seem to end here, and soon the certainty arises that he will not be able to leave the castle. A novel about the power of time, about memory and timeless connection. A novel about fragile identities, about the beautiful facade and the search for inner light - sparkling, crystal clear, and filled with subtle tension.