In the north of Essen in the 60s and 70s, between kiosks, pubs and football stadiums, school dropout Uli grew up in the shadow of the Zollverein colliery. While his surroundings are characterized by hard work and weird characters - a speed-addicted inspector, stealing altar boys, Countess Mariza in the snack bar, the club of non-practicing heterosexuals or the Schantalle - he finds a gate to other worlds in stories. Against the rugged backdrop of the Ruhr area, it is about more than daily survival: about friendship, about the courage to swim against the current, about weird humour - and about the love of literature. Up to the first "publishing office", which is nothing more than a converted chip shop, this unusual journey through the life of a dreamer leads right through a territory that is constantly reinventing itself - and in which everything seems possible if you just think something up.