While he is recovering in the burns unit, he meets Marianne Engel - a beautiful, compelling and clearly unhinged gargoyle sculptor.
She insists they were once lovers in medieval Germany.
She tells him stories of their past together, intertwined with love stories from Japan, Iceland, Italy and England, and he finds himself drawn back to life and, ultimately, love.
He is eventually released into Marianne's care, but all is not well.
The pull of his past sins becomes more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes more addictive.
Meanwhile, Marianne receives word from God she has 27 sculptures left to complete and when the 27th is finished, her time on Earth will end.
Sounds a bit weird, but it really is very, very good!