On one level a meditation on the changing face of Japanese culture and its attitudes towards honor, friendship, love, and death as well as a sly subversion of all of these things, this novel centers around the friendship between the narrator and the man he calls Sensei, who is haunted by mysterious events in his past. As the friendship grows and the narrator learns more about the man he so admires, he is increasingly intrigued by his hidden history. The Sensei refuses to divulge anything until the narrator is called away to look after his sick father, and the truth is finally revealed amidst tragic circumstances.