Kino runs a quiet bar, a space once occupied by a coffeeshop which he bought from his aunt after quitting his previous job as a sports equipment salesman. He quit when he returned from a business trip to find that his wife was having an affair with his best friend from the company.

A mysterious man visits Kino's bar a few times a week, orders the same drink and reads from a thick book. He discovers the man's name, Kamita, when the man breaks up an argument between two rowdy low-down men. A woman and her partner visit regularly as well, and one day the woman visits alone and convinces Kino to make love to her. She shows him the cigarette burns on her body, left there by her partner.

Kino's wife comes to the bar to go over divorce papers. She apologizes for hurting him, and he accepts the apology, privately noting that he hadn't really felt hurt. Soon after he notices the stray cat he'd taken in is missing, and snakes begin appearing outside the bar. His aunt says she'd never seen snakes there before. The next time Kamita visits the bar, he tells Kino he'll have to close the bar, that something bad has happened. He reveals that Kino's aunt sent him to look after Kino, and urges Kino to take a long trip away, not stay anywhere too long, and send regular postcards back to his aunt with no messages.

Kino doesn't understand Kamita's bizzare proclamation but trusts his word instinctually. He checks into a business hotel, spends his time reading and watching TV, and becomes bored as the days wear on. He wakes in the middle of the night to hear a knocking at his door - a visit he'd expected but which he tries to ignore. He thinks back to his conversation with his wife - he stifled the pain he should have felt, he realizes. The knocking, he knows, will follow him everywhere he goes. It returns, a rapping on the window by his bed. He thinks of Kamita, the willow tree outside his bar, the cat, his wife, the woman with the burns; he realizes he is hearing his heart. He admits that he is hurt. And he weeps into the cold, rainy night.