Late one evening, David and Sabana - members of a communist group - arrive at a country house where they meet Abahn, the man they've been sent to guard and eventually kill for his perceived transgressions. A fourth man arrives (also named Abahn), and throughout the night these four characters discuss existential ideas of understanding, capitalism, violence, revolution and dogs, while a gun lurks in the background the entire time. Suspenseful and thought-provoking, Duras's novel explores human existence and suffering in the confusing contemporary world.