In the languid summer of 1977, a naive young lady named Calista flies out of Athens into the big world. She heads to an island turned film set to work for famed Hollywood director Billy Wilder, whose films she has never seen. The world of film stars, ironic men, champagne and strange relationships. Calista rejoices at her adventure, while Mr. Wilder himself is sad - the great director realizes that his time in cinema is coming to an end. In Hollywood they are already shunning the classics, and he is making his new film with German money. Calista becomes his guide into the dark labyrinth of his family history, the roots of which go back to German soil. Coe's new novel is both a subtle story of growing up, and a very intimate portrait of one of the most mysterious and significant people in the history of cinema, and, of course, an immersion in an illusory world on the verge of reality and celluloid fantasy, between sleep and reality.