Osman, a young student in Istanbul, discovers a "new life" within the pages of a book. When he reads it, he is so profoundly moved that he wants to completely change his life. At that moment, he falls madly in love with his radiant fellow student, Jannan. However, she loves Mehmet, who mysteriously disappears. Osman will abandon his studies and his family to search for the darkest secrets of the book that has become an obsession. He sets out for distant Anatolia with Jannan, seeking the traces of Mehmet and exploring the life promised by the book. He will wander through old buses, rural roads, and provincial cafes. He will travel through a world literally filled with Byzantine conspiracies swirling in the steppes and the desolate border towns of Turkey. He will discover the dangerous nature of love, literature, and fanaticism.