The 38-year-old Simon sees the same mysterious dream every night, until one day, an equally enigmatic woman interprets it for him. Simon is the reincarnation of a man who lived in 11th century Tibet, consumed by an unquenchable hatred towards his nephew, the great Tibetan hermit Milarepa.
"For centuries, you have wandered in the mountains of dreams, wanting to redeem your soul. And the only way to achieve it is to narrate the story of your adversary, the story of Milarepa, the greatest hermit."
To break free from the vicious cycle of reincarnations, Simon narrates the story of the two men - uncle and nephew - identifying with them to the point of confusion.
Through this Buddhist fairy tale in the form of a monologue, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt follows the thread of his philosophical quests, as we first encountered them in Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran, and in Dear God.