二人の老人が桑名の駅に降り立った。彼らは、伊勢から東京への帰路で、そこの宿に泊まった。若い男、流しの歌い手が桑名のうどん屋で休みをとった。この二つの話が平行して語られ、最後にひとつに混じり合う。

Two elderly men get off the train at Kuwana Station. They are on the way back from Ise to Tokyo and they stay at an inn in Kuwana. A young man, a travelling singer, rests at a noodle shop in Kuwana. The stories of the men parallel each other and merge at the end. The book has been translated into English as "A Song by Lantern Light".