On a public piano in the historical district of Montreal, a confused drifter gives a virtuoso performance of a Rachmaninoff concerto. This man, who knows neither his own name nor where he came from, can transform a simple stew into a divine meal, carry out impossible calculations, and babbles disconnected words in almost every language of the world. Moreover, the anonymous prodigy appears to create dazzling graffiti in disreputable corners of the city, and the mysterious characteristics of his graffiti cast serious suspicions on him.
Who is this unknown man with the face of a castaway, known to many of the city's inhabitants as ‘Phoenix’? What connects him to a Chinese virtuoso pianist, a masterful Spanish confectioner, a highly gifted English mathematician, and many other geniuses around the world?
A dedicated, idealistic social worker and a tenacious neuropsychologist with a blind faith in science set out to discover the story of the man with the mystical name. This exciting odyssey, narrated in an eloquent and visually evocative style, takes us around the world from Montreal to Babylon. Wherever we go, we experience the mysteries of genius and the healing powers of art.