Uncovering the background that led to the fateful meeting and how the political drama took its course.

Journalist Daniel Mandelkern leaves Hamburg on assignment to interview Dirk Svensson, a reclusive children's book author who lives alone on the Italian side of Lake Lugano with his three-legged dog. After stumbling on a manuscript of Svensson's about a complicated menage a trois, Mandelkern is plunged into mysteries past and present.

A cruise ship rescues 28 refugees from the Mediterranean. When the captain is ordered to head for Libya, the situation escalates.