Shohei Murata

Having lost both his mother and father, an 11-year-old city boy is sent to live with his grandparents in a small seaside village. Feeling responsible for his father's accidental death, he becomes increasingly introverted and finds himself unable to make friends with the local kids. Then an eccentric elderly doctor takes him under his wing, and tells him of an ancient ceremony where a sacred flame must be brought back from a remote island by a lone swimmer.

湖畔の別荘に集まった3組の家族と塾の講師は、中学受験を控えた子供のために勉強合宿を行っていた。参加者の一組の並木俊介と美菜子は別居中だったが、受験のために、仲の良い夫婦を演じていた。そこへ俊介の愛人が現れ殺害される。