To save his own life, young August Zollinger leaves his hometown and embarks on a life of wandering. What at first seems like a bitter exile becomes a journey of self-discovery: he finds true love in the tiny booth of a railway station, where he receives daily calls from a mysterious telephone operator; he discovers the most loyal camaraderie and friendship in the ranks of the army; he experiences solitude in the most remote forests of his country, where he learns the secrets of trees; and, above all, he dedicates himself to the humblest of tasks until he discovers their beauty and dignity. This long initiatory journey makes him a man of integrity, capable of returning home to become what he had dreamed of since childhood: the printer of his village.

A delicate moral fable with an unforgettable and essential character. A story as simple as it is prodigious, with echoes of Hesse, Walser, and Kafka. A lucid parable about the human condition.