On a whim, aging director Dixon Greenwood accepted the three-month fellowship in post-wall Berlin, with the promise that nothing would be required of him but an interview about his moviemaking career. Thirty years had passed since he had directed his greatest film, a cult classic called Summer, about a group of German artists between the wars. Now, out of inspiration, in the dark Berlin winter, he sifts through past and present for a new creative direction as he attempts to rediscover his artistic nature. While there, he encounters an actress who disappeared off the set of his film thirty years ago.

Ward Just's intelligent, compelling, and meticulously crafted fiction offers unexpected insights into the psychology of those obsessed with art or political intrigue and faced with circumstances that make pursuit of their passion difficult, if not dire. He further explores ideas about inspiration, memory, and the pull the past can have.