From the day the first love worries appear in Stavros, his desire to tell stories in his own, subversive way ignites.

In the early 1970s, with Greece under the rule of a military junta, pre-teen Stavros discovers a strange accompaniment to the awakening of eros: he subverts the meanings of classical myths, creating strange physical symptoms in those around him. Stavros' conservative parents, perplexed and flustered, take him from specialist to specialist. Diagnoses vary, until a fortune-teller deems that the boy is victim of a rare, ancient disease, which exhibits himself when he is in love. After the collapse of the junta, as Stavros meets the toils of love and politics in university, the influence of his strange affliction extends, from his immediate environment into the political arena.—TB

Afflicted with mythopathy, a rare condition greatly affected by the ups and downs of love, young Stavros finds himself battling with rejection since childhood. Mixing and matching classical myths and legends with preposterous fabrications, rampant imagination, and boyish charm, Stavros finds refuge in the dark halls of the Athenian cinemas when the world around him seems to crumble. Spanning three innocent, turbulent, and at the same time, promising decades--the 60s, the 70s, and the 80s--Stavros recounts his exciting, celluloid-scented journey to adulthood, inspired by the long-lasting friendship of his father with the self-made, Greek billionaire shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis. But sometimes, reality and truth can be harsh, and somehow, the warm and humid wind of the Ostro has always been kind to Stavros. Is there a cure for all the romantics out there?—Nick Riganas