How could so much happen in a thousand days? When you reunite after half a century, you must be prepared for surprises. Hans Magnus Enzensberger has embarked on this adventure: a chance discovery in a cellar prompted a confrontation with the past. In 1963, the author takes his first trip to Russia, and unexpectedly becomes a guest at Khrushchev's dacha in Gagra. The result is an accurate portrait of the man and the Soviet "thaw" politics of that time. Three years later, Enzensberger travels through the USSR from the far south to Siberia. This whirlwind journey marks the beginning of the entanglements of the "Russian novel," the tumultuous relationship with his second, Russian wife. In 1968/1969, the poet finds himself in a phase of political and personal turmoil. In the midst of the Vietnam War, he accepts an invitation.