On December 11, 1960 an elderly man is found bludgeoned to death near the Kamata Station in Tokyo. Detective Yoshimura Hiroshi is a rookie detective that has only one clue to go on - the name "Kameda." Detective Yoshimura also has a dark side himself from his miserable experience in the war. Now, Detective Yoshimura places himself in the criminal's dark mind to track down the killer.

Based on the 1961 novel "Suna no utsuwa" by Seicho Matsumoto it was also made as a feature film The Castle of Sand (1974).