Beginning with a somber tale of Sibylla's own upbringing in which education was her one protection against the dangers of the world, the story quickly shifts to Ludo's conception and birth. He's a young boy with a highly developed intellect which his mother fosters dutifully. She teaches him Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Old Norse, and Inuit languages. She teaches him advanced mathematics. To account for his absent father figure, Sibylla instills Ludo with a love for the film The Seven Samurai. These characters become Ludo's guide.
When he grows into an adolescent, Ludo begs his mom to tell him about his father. She refuses. Eventually he digs through her belongings searching for clues and leaves home to find someone worthy of being his father. He meets and tests six men: Hugh Carey, Geroge Sorabji, Watkins, Mustafa Szegti, Red Devlin, and Kenzo Yamamato, but he rejects each of them. Carey is not smart enough, though a gifted swordsman. Sorabji was not a talented fighter. During his acquaintance with Ludo, Devlin commits suicide because he's overwhelmed by his traumatic past in Azerbaijan.
After meeting each of these men and challenging them, Ludo accepts that he is alone. In the process, however, he has achieved a certain maturity. He has accepted the role of parent to himself. In the end, he does work with Yamamoto because they are able to connect on a philosophical level, but Ludo offers the older man no form of filial devotion. Ludo has followed his mother's original plan by adhering to the model of masculinity presented in The Seven Samurai.
