In the psychiatric hospital of Muensingen, the night is quiet and dark. Friedrich Glauser cannot stop brooding. The foreign legionnaire, Dadaist, writer and morphine addict takes stock of his ruined life. Agonizing moments of childhood appear like iridescent bubbles. They keep growing and refuse to burst. Writing about it builds a bridge between the institution he is in and the world outside. His fictional character study of Constable Studer, who represents a positive father figure, makes him famous. After being discharged, Glauser flees Switzerland. He leads a restless life with his girlfriend Berthe Bendel. But the more he tries to set up a new life in some remote spot, the more his own past catches up with him relentlessly.