Jérôme Lafargue leads a quiet and pleasant life in Paris. He’s a professor at a prestigious university, and enjoys a loving relationship with his wife. He is also a devoted son who regularly visits his parents.

One day, Launer, a man with a German accent calls him out of the blue and asks to meet with him. As he explains, he has been questioning his identity ever since his father’s death, and he knows that Lafargue is the only person who can help him find answers. Indeed, Lafargue met Launer’s father back in 1968.

Thus begins a journey through the realm of memory for Lafargue. He relives the few days he spent in Munich the year when he met the woman, a Czech refugee, who later became his wife. The past overshadows the present, and while trying to remember, Lafargue finds himself on a quest for his own identity.

Written directly in French, this remarkable first novel by an American author questions multiple issues, such as our struggle with time and age, where we come from, the mystery of faith, and the nature of the European identity.