He is a literary master, won the Pulitzer Prize two times, but he is also America's 'enfant terrible': Norman Mailer. Gero von Boehm's portrait of the writer shows a man who has gone through a lot of experience but never lost his sense of humour.

Born in 1923 in Long Branch, New Jersey, he entered Harvard at the age of 16. After graduating with honors from Harvard he was inducted into the army in March 1944. His experience in the army gave him the idea for a novel about World War II – published in 1948 as The Naked and the Dead – a critical and commercial success. After this early success and under pressure of being one of America's most promising writers he suffered an identity crisis and a period of great instability with a couple of busted marriages, drug abuse and even imprisonment. He turned his literary energies to journalism but then returned to the novel developping a hybrid literary form, combining fiction and nonfiction narrative. In 1969 election campaign for the Mayor of New York City Norman Mailer was one of the candidates but didn't win. In addition to his books, Mailer also has written, produced, directed and acted in several films. His body of work displays a wide scope, a willingness to explore controversal themes and to experiment with different forms and styles. In Gero von Boehm's portrait he talks very frankly about his life and ideas. The film visits the places where he lives and where he was born. A lot of pictures draw a life full of suspense, drama and joy – in Norman Mailer's words, his “life is a feast”.