A novel with peace and forgiveness as leit-motif, ironically enough, set in the mountains at Engebirge. A strange, semi-symbolic piece of work with an equally strange set of characters. An old and solitary countess, violently in love, Ritzler, a man her age who fancies himself a knight combating the devil and death, gypsies and circus people who come and go, and a couple in love. Both plot and characterization is vague, but the theme of the book clearly delineated, the achievement of serenity and happiness through overcoming difficulty.