The novel's protagonist is Jesper Fegge, a young jazz enthusiast and wannabe writer who after meeting an American woman named Mabel and hitting his head several times loses his unconscious mind.

So at the beginning of the book he either can take his violin or his typewriter to America because of the size of his bag and this decision affects all his future life.

Over the course of the novel Jesper can get married and settle down, found a new religion, get beaten up repeatedly, commit adultery, search for the meaning of life and do various other things.

Since the book concerns with alternate possible realities some parts of it can't be read in the traditional order.

The real jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker and his fictional follower Linus form one of the innumerable subplots of the novel.