Anis, the protagonist of the novel, lives a simple and reclusive life on a houseboat by the banks of the Nile. Every evening, a group of friends, a crowd of intellectuals, gathers at his place to discuss, lament, and isolate themselves from an outside world full of unpleasantness and a lack of future prospects. Above all, they come together to get high and forget that the ship is charting its course without asking us and without our help. This self-satisfied intoxication cannot last forever. The catastrophe arrives in the form of a tragically caused car accident.