Paul Arimond arrives in Afghanistan in 2003 as a paramedic for the Bundeswehr, in a country that his great-great-grandfather once traveled to in search of the universal language of birds, drawn by its rich wildlife. Paul, burdened by guilt from a car accident he helped cause, also loves to observe birds and make notes about them. They seem to live by a different order and with different freedoms. Amid an increasingly dangerous threat, Paul begins to act more unpredictably and anarchically. Norbert Scheuer's novel about a fragile bird lover takes us deep into the heart of the entanglements that make up the mysterious lives of his moving and unique characters.