The epic life of Jacques Serdobol takes place on the verge of reality and dreams, in the thinking and rethinking of (allegedly) fictitious stories seen in cinema, which replace the main character (allegedly) with the real story of his own life. The reader, and in fact, the viewer, moves from childhood fantasies (cowboy, king, knight, Pope, gang leader...) to youthful dreams (athlete, wandering actor, lover...) and mature dreams (extras in the crowd, ascetic, chemist , traveler...), and in the end he finds himself in the company of old parents and their hypothetical grandson, fascinated by watching the on-screen exploits of an overseas film actor who is in some ways very similar to himself...