One year before the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War, the most famous baroque poets meet in the summer of 1647 in Telgte in the Münster region. Grimmelshausen provides them with accommodation, and the tramp Courage is their hostess. While the conditions for new wars are being created in the peace negotiations, the poets are reading from their manuscripts. A lively discussion develops: on love for the mother tongue, the misery of the fatherland and moral standards in dark times. The authors even tackle a manifesto ... Günter Grass narrates what could have been and weaves a persistently relevant story in times of war. Powerful in language, he captures the way of life and lifestyle of the Baroque period and recounts the indestructible strength of poetry, the spirit of conviviality and the power(lessness) of poets.