The deadly rays of the sun make living during the day impossible. People are only able to become active during the night, in the day they sleep in darkened rooms and seek refuge from the sun. In the cities of the half-world, a culture develops from different languages, different forms of life and survival techniques. Katz, a pusher, prowls the streets selling old picture postcards that depict a natural environment destroyed a long time ago. Day after day Herzog climbs the roof of his house with a stop-watch and tries to bear the sunrise. The 'Whites', who own the monopoly on the past, produce electronical illusions for an invisible élite by means of ancient images of nature. The 'Blacks' seize hold of their machines and begin to fiddle with them. Sunny's day bar is the place where the inhabitants of the half-world meet.