心灵封闭已久的中年教师戈列格里斯，无意间在书店发现葡萄牙作家普拉多的 随笔《文字炼金师》，被书中充满哲思的文字吸引，毅然抛下井然有序的生活，展开探索心灵、寻找生命终极答案的旅程……在里斯本，戈列格里斯探访普拉多的生平，一步步重建这位非凡医生、天才作家的影像，揭开葡萄牙独裁政权时期的一段隐秘的黑暗。在一步步走近了解普拉多的同时，格列格里斯也检视自己，重新找回生活的节奏和意义。
Last days of 1941 summer, the era of Obligation, during the famine atmosphere of the Second World War. In the middle of all this poverty and turmoil, there are two poets in their early twenties: Muzaffer Tayyip Uslu and Rustu Onur. They have been carrying tuberculosis germs in their lungs and love of poetry in their hearts for years. Two poets who have the constant habit of making bets on things that they do not own, make a bet on a beautiful girl. They will both write a poem for her and whichever Suzan likes, the other will fade from the scene..
