Philipp Himmelreich's transfer to New York could not have come at a better time: with one stroke, he is able to save his marriage and escape the clutches of a passionate affair with the young bookseller Josephine. In the plane, at an altitude of 30,000 feet, Philipp finally manages to clear his mind again. And so he indulges, one last time, in a myriad of delightful fantasies. I am free to imagine it now, because I can - because there is no danger that the affair with Josephine will ever be repeated. At least, that is what Himmelreich believes. He revels in his romantic imagination: instead of boarding his flight to New York, he is kidnapped at Zurich airport by Josephine. As her hostage, he is forced to travel across Europe in a VW van and then to sail for weeks across the Atlantic to the New World. And gradually, he is transformed into the very opposite of himself. His existence is New York appears undisturbed by all of this, his successes as a banker, his life with his wife Anna, who has found her way back to his heart. Then, completely out of the blue, he is summonsed by the FBI: Josephine has been reported missing – and there is compelling evidence that Himmelreich has abducted her. All of a sudden, fantasy takes the upper hand and begins, in a startling manner, to turn his life on its head. A masterly tale, at once astute and poetic.