Kyoji is a Japanese chef working in a Macau Thai food restaurant having an affair with the wife of his not very pleasant boss, who engages Kyoji to murder her. He is then ordered to take a trip on a boat to Phuket, which he does, en route befriending a single mother and getting trapped in a world of failure, and in Thailand, it is suggested by the mysterious Monk, to make contact with the Lizard, who may or may not be an ally.