When Ray visits his old university friends, Charlie and Emily, he is given a special mission: to be so inefficient that he makes Charlie look good by comparison.

However, Ray has his own buried feelings to deal with. Decades ago, he and Emily listened to jazz when they were alone, and now, as Sarah Wong sings from the speakers, he struggles to control everything that this music brings with it.

In the hands of Kazuo Ishiguro, a photograph of domestic reality turns into a miniature masterpiece of memory and forgetfulness.