The protagonist, an istanbul lawyer named Galip, finds one day that his wife Rüya the name means dream in turkish has mysteriously left him with very little explanation. He wanders around the city looking for his clues to her whereabouts. He suspects that his wife has taken up with her half brother, a columnist for milliyet named Celal, and it happens that he is also missing.

The story of Galip’s search is interspersed with reprints of celal’s columns, which are lengthy, highly literate meditations on the city and its history. Galip thinks that by living as Celal he can figure out how celal thinks and locate both him and his wife, so he takes up residence in Celal’s apartment, wearing his clothes and eventually writing his column.