The novel is set during the boom years of Japan’s economic growth. The plot unfolds in Tokyo and later moves to Hokkaido, the northernmost prefecture of Japan. Like most of Miura’s writing, the language style is simple and down-to-earth. It is narrated in the third person, and while the reader is privy to many of the inner thoughts of the two central characters, Kanahiko and Fuyumi, the private thoughts of the other characters are only hinted at in their conversations or facial expressions. This allows the reader to make assumptions and false guesses that are overturned in a surprise ending.

     The novel starts out by introducing the two pivotal characters, Machizawa Kanahiko and Hayakawa Fuyumi. Fuyumi expects to marry Kanahiko, but Kanahiko breaks their engagement in order to marry his boss’s daughter, in the expectation that this will advance his prospects in the company. Kanahiko is blackmailed by the mysterious Denjou Kyuukichi into spying on a political heavyweight, the father of yet another woman with whom Kanahiko is having an affair. This connection leads to his asking Denjou to kill Fuyumi, who is threatening to destroy Kanahiko’s marital prospects. Denjou reports back that he has killed Fuyumi by pushing her off a cliff, and brings back her engagement ring as proof.

     Some time later, a Fuyumi look-alike begins to circulate on the fringes of Kanahiko’s life, causing him no end of anxiety and confusion. Investigations seem to prove that this woman is someone entirely unrelated to Fuyumi. Then Kanahiko discovers that he has been cleverly tricked by the company faction that wants to destroy his boss, who is now his father-in-law. The mentally unhinged Kanahiko is driven to suicide. Fuyumi has allowed herself to be a pawn in the hands of Kanahiko’s intra-corporate enemies for the sake of getting her own revenge. But revenge is not as sweet as she had hoped, and Fuyumi takes her own life by stepping off the same cliff she was supposedly pushed off from by Denjou.