Inspired by a true story, this suspenseful and poetic novel follows that fateful and tragic day in the lives of five families living in a single building in Berlin.
A malfunctioning refrigerator in an empty apartment is gathering momentum to burst into flames.
The flames—slow and invisible from the outside—begin to devour everything in their path. Two floors up, Alice drifts off to sleep while waiting for the return of Matthia—the young man she loves with a passion that is new to her, and whom she has not yet managed to tell her mother about, even though her mother longs to know every detail of her life.
Bastien has been harboring something crucial he needs to reveal to his mother, who also lives in the apartment building, but cannot find the courage to do so. Polina also lacks courage—but a different type. She is a former ballet dancer unable to accept her body after childbirth, let alone the incessant crying of the baby in the next room. Down the street, Hulya is thinking of Polina. This is starting to happen increasingly. She has never confessed this to Polina, yet she burns with desire to do so.
Time is running out for all of them. A fiery monster is about to upend every perspective, forcing them to make extreme choices to bridge those silences—or to imbue them with new meaning.
Regular people caught in an electrifying drama—mothers, sons, daughters and fathers, silent and fearful—trapped and unable to express their sentiments, fighting battles their neighbours know nothing about.
