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The novel is set in the period marked by the youth protest of the late 60s, more precisely in the hippie and drug movement, which was part of this also international youth revolt. The main character of the story is named Tobias. He joins this youth protest and gets involved in the drug and hippie movement around 1970, moves into a rural commune, gains experience in "free love," consumes and deals psychoactive drugs, especially hashish, sometimes also LSD. Tobias meets the attractive Nina. She injects herself with heroin. Tobias enters into a liaison with her, and the two decide to take a trip together to Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Goa. Nina manages to stop injecting heroin before they leave. Overland, with stops in Istanbul, southern Turkey, and Afghanistan, among other places, the two arrive in India. There, after a short stay in Amritsar, the couple is first drawn to Kashmir, where they make the acquaintance of a few Indian begging monks called sadhus. At their invitation, they accompany them to a remote and paradisiacal Himalayan valley. There they witness the passing and burial of a wise Hindu guru. They then travel on via Delhi, the Taj Mahal, and Varanasi to Kathmandu in Nepal. On the way, Tobias becomes seriously ill with a fever, but recovers. After their stay in Nepal, the journey takes them via Surat and Bombay to Goa. They stay in the hippie commune there for a few months until Nina becomes pregnant and they both decide to return to Europe. Again via Delhi and Amritsar, they reach Peshawar and then Kabul. A side trip to Bamiyan and the lakes of Band-e-Amir is made. They take some dope with them and smuggle it across the Afghan-Persian and subsequent borders. Once back in Europe, a stop is made first in Istanbul and then in Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik, they meet a traveling street juggler originally of Czech descent. Nina suffers a miscarriage. She and Tobias return to Germany via Italy. In Germany, they learn that their old house-sharing community no longer exists and that many of their former companions have left the movement which as a whole is showing signs of disintegration. The paths of Nina and Tobias then separate, at first tentatively, and they look around for a new way to live.
