Noboru is interested in ships, and near the end of the summer, Fusako, who owns a fashion clothing store, takes him to visit one.

At first Noboru reveres Ryuji, seeing him as a connection to one of the few meaningful things in the world, the sea – and tells his friends about his hero.

Noboru's secret of the peephole is discovered, but in order to fulfil the role of a lovable father, Ryuji does not punish him severely, despite being asked to by Fusako.

As Ryuji and Fusako's wedding draws near, Noboru begins to grow more angry and calls an "emergency meeting" of the gang.

The novel ends when Ryuji sees the chief putting on his gloves and, giving no attention to it, drinks his tea while lost in his thoughts.

The novel was adapted into the film The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, starring Kris Kristofferson and Sarah Miles, in 1976 by Lewis John Carlino; the setting was changed from Japan to England.

[1] Hans Werner Henze adapted the material into his 1990 opera Das verratene Meer to a libretto by Hans-Ulrich Treichel.