"In this novel, I found myself there by accident or rather through convenience." This sentence opens a research into the lives of two families during the past century. A novel of the 20th century, it tells the story of the writer Rainer Trutz and Waldemar Gejm, a professor of mathematics and linguistics at Lomonosov University, who has been developing a new field of research for years: mnemonics, the study of the origin and function of memory. The official memory control by state authorities becomes a downfall for both Trutz and Gejm in the following years: the German is beaten to death in a Soviet labor camp. The political upheavals under Comrade Stalin lead to Gejm's deportation and subsequent death. Only the two sons, Maykl Trutz and Rem Gejm, survive and meet decades later in reunified Germany.