To get over the end of a relationship, a man seeks solace in Ostend, a sleepy town on the North Sea coast. His landlady, the loner Emma Van A., tells him her lifestory, an astonishing account of romantic love and the most outlandish eroticism. Is she a supreme fantasist or a highly singular woman?

In these five tales, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt reveals the power of imagination in our lives. All five --The Dreamer of Ostend, Perfect Crime, The Healing, Bad Literature and Woman with Flowers -- suggest that dreams are the stuff our days are made of.