By night, poet and teacher Mahmoud Elmachi camps on the shores of a vast reservoir in the desert. Around him a savage war rages but each day he puts on his fins and snorkle, and dives deep into the water in search of his memories. Some refer to Mahmoud as the “old madman”, others call him the “old sage”. What becomes clear in the murky depths is that with each descent into the lake, his story reveals a gathering of treasures and loss—precious conversations, exquisite love. From inner depths he has found the courage to face down an authoritarian regime with the power of his writing, the force of non-violence.