October 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if you lived in East Germany and this is precisely what happens to Alex′s proudly socialist mother. Teenage Alex has a big problem on his hands when she suddenly regains consciousness eight months later. Her heart is so weak that any shock might kill her. And what could be more shocking than the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of capitalism in her beloved country? To save his mother, Alex transforms the family apartment into an island of the past, a kind of socialist museum where she is lovingly duped into believing that nothing has changed. What began as a little white lie soon gets more and more out of hand as Alex tries to move mountains and create miracles to restore his mother to health - and maintain her belief that Lenin really did win after all! Fast and funny, intriguing and touching, this alternative history to that of the recent German past is as unique as it is irresistible.