In Strasbourg, at the train station exit, this man suddenly appears next to the narrator ("Are you looking for a hotel too?") and refuses to leave his side. From that moment on, the Basel philosopher (a specialist in Spinoza) is besieged, tyrannized, drunk under the table, and talked against the wall by this blabbermouth and self-proclaimed musician (a fickle admirer of Schubert) until there is only one terrible way out. The novel deals with the devastating consequences that can arise when one fails to rid themselves of a stranger at a crucial moment. It tells how a person's everyday life can change fatally in a very short time. Without the parties involved realizing the doom they are heading towards, events take their course. A wonderfully profound novel, whose comedy stems from horror and whose musicality accompanies the events.