God and the Devil make a bet. Paracelsus, doctor and alchemist, scientist and charlatan, seeker after God and narrator of fariy tales, is allowed to come back to earth to prove that he is capable of winning the love of a woman, having wasted his whole life merely writing about her. Thus he becomes embroiled in the eternal trial between reality and speculation, libido and the rule of the intellect, aiming to swap his pen for his virility and allow his heart to rule over his head.