At fifty years old, Aloys Clark is a man falling apart. No inspiration, incapable of writing a single line, the writer travels across France, from libraries to cultural centres, to talk about literature. At a loss for love and happiness, haunted by the death of his father, the man succumbs to depression. Until the day he unearths a book from a dusty shelf, an altogether different book. This story, on the face of it an autobiography, exudes the joy of life and prompts Aloys to follow in the footsteps of its author.