To r u Okada's cat has disappeared a nd this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing mo r e distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling sto r y unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague a nd blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz a nd opera a nd drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out, a nd he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.