Twenty two year old, Sumire is in love for the first time with a woman seventeen years her senior. But, whereas Miu is a glamorous and successful older woman with a taste for classical music and fine wine, Sumire is an aspiring writer who dresses in an oversized second hand coat and heavy boots like a character in a Jack Kerouac novel. Surprised that she might, after all, be a lesbian, Sumire spends hours on the phone talking to her best friend, K about the big questions in life: what is sexual desire and should she ever tell Miu how she feels about her? K, a primary school teacher, is used to answering questions, but what he most wants to say to Sumire is "I love you." He consoles himself by having an affair with the mother of one of his pupils. But, when a desperate Miu calls him out of the blue from a sunny Greek island and asks for his help, he soon discovers that all is not as it seems and something very strange has happened to Sumire.
村上春树（1949－ ），日本小说家。曾在早稻田大学文学部戏剧科就读。1979年，他的第一部小说《听风之歌》问世后，即被搬上了银幕。随后，他的优秀作品《1973年的弹子球》、《寻羊冒险记》、《挪威的森林》等相继发表。他的创作不受传统拘束，构思新奇，行文潇洒自在，而又不流于庸俗浅薄。尤其是在刻画人的孤独无奈方面更有特色，他没有把这种情绪写成负的东西，而是通过内心的心智性操作使之升华为一种优雅的格调，一种乐在其中的境界，以此来为读者，尤其是生活在城市里的人们提供了一种生活模式或生命的体验。