A novel that delves into life, a book about the passion for writing, the beauty of opportunity, and the love of literature. The literary debut of Hilmar Klute, filled with sentences that one would love to read over and over again. Ruhr area, mid-eighties: Volker Winterberg works as a civil service volunteer in a senior citizens' home and writes poetry. He dreams of becoming a poet like Peter Rühmkorf and the members of Group 47. But for now, he still has to prepare the elderly for the day early in the morning. The rest of his time is spent drinking, smoking, and writing in pubs, often spending the nights in unfamiliar beds. A hitchhiking trip to Paris without money inspires him to write his best poem yet, and then he wins a spot at a meeting for emerging writers in West Berlin. In the divided city, he meets Heiner Müller.