A novel set in the late 1960s in Toronto, Canada. The story is built around three young people of different backgrounds. Sebastian who lived in former East Germany, is a graduate student and in love with Petra, an immigrant from West Germany. She works as a typist at a stockbroker's firm, but is reluctant to enter a closer relationship with him. Sebastian befriends Natalie, an undergraduate who lives in an affluent neighbourhood while Sebastian lives in a rooming house. Both form a friendship with Petra. Slowly the relationship builds, but a twist in the story suggests a love triangle. Jazz...

The story is set in a suburb of Berlin, inside former East Germany, but close to the border to West Berlin. The time is the early 1950s. Young people, living their lives and working at a state-owned factory, their travails, joys and first love, face the delusions and propaganda of a regime that was hideous, while sometimes appearing comical at the same time. These were times when the Cold War started and when America was in the cross-hairs of the East German regime.