Mika Polyakov, an elderly Russian artist, who has been living in Munich for more than 20 years since he left his home country, has practically forgotten by now about the extraordinary powers he possesses, though he would use them quite frequently once.

Here, in the West, his paintings sell well and his exhibitions attract huge audiences. In a nutshell, he is a success. He does not have to struggle for survival, nor protect his friends or relatives from deadly threat, so why use his gift of killing people with a look? His life is outwardly fine but he is desperately lonely and he seems to have lost his sense of purpose.

It is at this point that Alfred appears in his life. The creature which materialized from an unfinished drawing seems nothing but the artist’s alter ago, his secret self that has come out of the shade to tempt him to achieve great things through his supernatural abilities. This incredible event makes Mika remember and review his whole life.

It all began in Mika’s childhood in pre-war Leningrad. After a practical joke played on him by an envious schoolmate Mika suffered a severe head injury and was on the brink of death. As a result, he acquired this strange gift of moving objects at a distance, finding hidden things and killing people, always in self-defence.

His whole life, as the lives of so many people of his generation all over the world, was a story of loss, suffering and pain, first twisted by the war, then trampled under the heavy foot of the Soviet state. His scary gift saved his life more than once. It helped him in the orphanage, it helped him at war and it helped him later, when, one by one, he lost all the people he loved.  When he immigrated to the West he thought he would never have to resort to his deadly weapon again.

But even there, in quiet Germany, the unfair world strikes him a violent blow: his only friend, Leo Taub, dies of a heart attack after a group of Neo-Nazis insults him. Blinded by anger Mika kills the bastards…

And then Alfred suggests that Mika should use his powers to create the place he and Leo used to dream of - a paradise colony for gifted artists, writers and musicians… But building this City of the Sun for talents would take a lot of money. So who will sponsor it?

Alfred’s answer is simple: Mika would become a contract killer ridding the world of those who have made their fortunes on the pain, suffering and blood of other people. He will clean this world of pests just as wolves clean forests of dead animals. All the money he earns will be spent on creating the paradise colony on a distant island. According to Alfred, he would act like Robin Hood: robbing the rich to help the poor.

But where is the line that should not be crossed by someone who wants to remain pure in mind and soul? Self-defence and murder are very different things. And though Alfred insists that Mika has nothing to worry about because they are just helping this world get rid of parasites, the artist has certain doubts as to how true the arguments of his alter ego are.

Again the eternal battle between good and evil rages high. And the human soul is the battlefield once again. Which side will come out the winner?