On a public piano in Old Montreal, a wanderer with a tortured mind performs a Rachmaninoff concerto to perfection. The same man, unable to say his name or where he came from, can transform a stew into a divine meal, solve impossible calculations and exchange rambling words in any language. Again, the anonymous prodigy disperses in the ill-fated corners of dazzling graffiti, whose oriental signature, enigmatic, throws on him heavy suspicions. Who is this stranger with the head of a castaway who is nicknamed "the Phoenix"? What ties do he have with a virtuoso Chinese pianist, a masterful Spanish pastry chef, a gifted English mathematician, and so many other geniuses around the world? An improbable tandem formed by a street worker, devoted and candid, and a neuropsychologist, stubborn and incredulous, sets out on the trail of the rare bird. Carried by a sumptuous writing, this odyssey pushes us as far as in Babylon, to conquer the mysteries of genius and the saving virtues of art.