Gabriel Zurmühlen does not know his origins – he was once found as a newborn in baroque Berlin, wrapped in a silken cloth with a mysterious crest. Driven by this mystery, he has ended up in the service of the unscrupulous Count von Winsterburg.
On behalf of his master, Gabriel immerses himself in the glamorous but dangerous Paris of Louis XIV, seduces men and women, makes friends and enemies, steals, murders and risks his life several times.
But it is only when fate leads the Count's household back to the Spree that he begins to better understand the background to his life – and thus himself.