Paul Château Têtard, 48, falls in love with a young woman working as a counter clerk in the subway. When he plans to marry her, his mother launches a private detective on her tracks to prove she's cheating on her son.
The 1973 novel was written by Kobo Abe and follows a nameless man who gives up his identity to live with a large cardboard box over his head, encountering a range of characters as he wanders the streets of Tokyo。