"You can do anything if you set your mind to it!" says the old man to his grandson as he performs a handstand. However, Stefan Hertmans only truly understands his grandfather's willpower after his death when he reads his notebooks and decides to write the novel of this life: He vividly describes the 13-year-old who dreams of becoming a painter while working in the iron foundry, only to find himself at the front, where he survives the horrors of the trenches but nearly succumbs to the loss of his great love.