Philip is a young, successful, and unbearably narcissistic misanthrope writer who has no doubt in his genius. Even a negative article from The Times is not a cause for gloom: he is still convinced that the book being prepared for printing speaks for itself and does not need any PR campaign, just as Philip himself does not need his girlfriend, noisy city, people and in general in everything that is not him. His narcissism and neuroticity poison life all around. And when the idol of Philip, the writer Zimmerman offers his ward his country house, he tries to escape from others in order to focus on himself.