Dafer Schiehan fled head over heels from Saddam's henchmen due to an unpopular play. Now his hair has turned gray, he dreams in German, and feels connected to many people here. He has a residence permit, an apartment, and a job as a dishwasher; he has made it. However, when the restaurant gives him time off, he sits in his apartment lost in thought. Memories knock at the door, bringing with them questions: He has never told his family in Iraq what he, an academic, does for a living. Why the guilt, the fear? In flight from his inner turmoil, he finds himself back in the woods. Usama Al Shahmani recounts a childhood and youth spent under dictatorship and war, in exile, and the disappearance of a world that was once home.