Didier and Hermine experience a short-lived affair while studying at the University of Ghent. By coincidence, they meet again twelve years later, travelling to a congress in Vienna. Their past infatuation turns into an intense friendship, in which Hermine inadvertently becomes Didier’s muse. Didier is a classic romanticist with a great fascination for the dark side of life. Even Hermine is unable to save him.

In this breath-taking chronicle of proclaimed death, Hermine reconstructs the last weeks of his life. In a serene, elegant and subtle style, she tries to uncover his motives, ultimately trying to fi nd out to what extent you can love so