At the end of 1972, more than 13 years after his move from Leipzig to West Berlin and eleven years after the construction of the Wall, the now globally recognized author Uwe Johnson is allowed to travel back to Leipzig for the first time: to visit his friend, musicologist Eberhard Klemm, a member of the legendary circle of friends from Johnson's student days in Leipzig in the mid to late 1950s. This trip is more than just a private reunion: it is a journey through time, a revisiting of the Leipzig city district, a recognition of the GDR and all the reasons for leaving it, as well as a confrontation with past and currently experienced social and cultural realities. This journey, along with a second one about a year later, also to Leipzig, is so remarkable that Uwe Johnson shares his experiences with two other friends from his Leipzig days, Klaus and Sabine Baumgärtner.