A metropolitan bachelor nomad is the narrative hero of Haruki Murakami. His life has gone off the rails: at 34, divorced, a friend has died, and he has been left by a woman without explanation. Recurring dreams and memories of Kiki, the "professional dream woman" and mysteriously vanished lover, lead him from Tokyo to Sapporo to the Dolphin Hotel, a formerly shabby and gaudy dive that has become a glittering luxury palace. This is where it all began, and this is where it will all end - for hidden here is the Sheep Man: a wise, oracle-like old man, guardian angel, and shadow of the narrator. His gentle message is: "Tan, tan, tan." "As well as you can. You have no other choice." In search of a new life, Haruki Murakami's narrator becomes embroiled in strange events. He meets the "hotel fairy" at the reception and tracks down a former school friend.