Tobias Horvath lives in Switzerland where he has been working at a watch factory for the past ten years. He grew up in poverty and his mother was a prostitute. One day Tobias stuck a knife in the back of the man he discovered to be his father. Believing him to be dead, Tobias then beats a hasty retreat--to the West. But even in the West he finds it impossible to escape the past and is tormented by nightmares and visions, so he seeks refuge in writing and waits for his fantasy woman to appear.