In an exciting espionage story, the fates of three men intersect: Felix Hoffman, the Dutch ambassador in Prague, who satisfies his physical and metaphysical hunger with food and Spinoza; Freddy Mancini, a witness to a kidnapping; and John Marks, an American Eastern Europe specialist. At the same time, the story tells of Europe in 1989, uniting and intoxicated by consumption. A high that can only end in a hangover.