It’s 1972 and 24-year-old Adrian Berger’s life is about to change. An only child with well-to-do parents, Adrian has everything—everything except friends—and his sheltered childhood has crippled him emotionally and sexually and has made him a selfish, arrogant loner. And he has no regrets about it until he is faced with a tragedy that sends him on a journey to unlock a family secret and reveal the lies of his life. Along the way, Adrian discovers love, explores loss, finds a hidden identity, and faces difficulties he’s not prepared to meet. He experiences the joys of Zen, naked women, and German beer. He finds God the hard way. He learns about love and sex the hard way. He learns to make friends the hard way. He learns life the hard way, finding reality a difficult concept to grasp at times.

This journey takes Adrian to Kaiserslautern, Germany, where he must find the two people who can help him put the pieces of his puzzled life together and unravel the lies he has lived. And all he has are names: Joseph and Katherina Iwanovitz.