In the sand dunes near a remote village, Niki Jumpei indulges in his only passion: the search for undiscovered insect species. As night falls, the villagers offer him a place to stay for the night—they lower him into the depths of a sand pit, to a solitary hut. There, he is greeted by a young woman with an air of mysterious anticipation. She stays up all night, shoveling the house clear. When the man wants to leave the next day, the rope ladder is gone. And sand relentlessly seeps through all the cracks of the hut. This novel established Kobo Abe's fame and has been translated into over twenty languages.