The main character of this novel saw in a dream that his wife was cheating on him. In anger, he runs away to Japan, not so much from his wife, but from personal problems, boring life and, it seems, even himself. In Japan, he accidentally meets a student who intends to commit suicide and is looking for a suitable place for this with the help of a suicide guide. A European intellectual and a Japanese youth, both equally depressed by the demands of their native cultures, set off on a journey in which each, one way or another, hopes to find peace. Published in Russian for the first time.