An anonymous narrator makes a complaint to the postmaster of a small Bavarian country post-office about the weaknesses of the postmen: one is an alcoholic, the second a womaniser, the third has succumbed to a cultural vice. Of course, the complainant's discontent also applies to the butcher, the vet, the teachers and others – in short: to the inadequacy of the world. "The writer, a local resident, keeps complaining about the postal delivery. It is unreliable, he says; the postal delivery is the most unreliable thing. If that's the way it is, says Blumauer, if that local resident is complaining about the postal delivery, then the following will happen: I shall complain about my moped."

August 1924: It is rather embarrassment why the elderly writer H. returns to a place from his childhood – Fusch, a spa in the midst of Salzburg’s mountains where he had spent summer after summer with his parents when he was growing up. A lot has changed in the meanwhile: friendships have grown apart, his fame dates back several years and his work is endangered by his impaired health and the slightest disturbances. The change of time after the war has found its way even into the life in remote Fusch and H., who became a stranger to himself, participates only in observing. During a walk H. becomes unconscious. Awaking, he gets to know young Doctor Krakauer, a duchess’ physician in private practice. He too is a repatriate in a foreign world. H. seeks to gain his friendship, but still there is the duchess and still there is a loneliness he cannot escape from. Walter Kappacher tells from a life, which has been overtaken by the time. He tells with captivating intensity and with lucid empathy, as competent as virtuosic. He confirms his special position in the german-speaking literature: “a rare one” (Peter Handke).

Plagued by thoughts, Filbert wanders through Berlin. One snowy night he meets Mae, and their love seems easy and absolute. Filbert is still not at peace; the legends of his grandfather, who died a hero as a resistance fighter in the forests of Eastern Europe, won’t leave him. But then Aureliusz appears, and he’s not as harmless as he looks: he may just look like a boy in a holey jumper, but he has the ability to travel through time in his search for the truth. But it’s not that easy to find it when everyone has their own story to tell and Filbert really just wants to have Mae back.