The narrator, a young Japanese man who has been living in America, explains that fugu, a fish popularized in Japan after World War II, has a “special significance” to him because it killed his mother. His mother ate fugu, which is poisonous if prepared incorrectly, after a friend served it to her for dinner. The narrator adds that he learned the details of his mother’s death two years after her passing, when he traveled to Japan to visit his family.
The narrator’s father picks him up from the airport and drives him to his childhood home. The narrator mentions the collapse of his father’s law firm, and his father explains that he considers his partner Watanabe, who was so ashamed about the firm’s collapse that he committed suicide, a “man of principle.” They are soon greeted by the narrator’s younger sister Kikuko. Kikuko is quiet around her father, but becomes more animated when he leaves the siblings alone. When the siblings go to the backyard to chat, Kikuko tells the narrator that she and her boyfriend are considering hitchhiking through America. The siblings then discuss the well in the backyard and the ghost that they used to believe haunted it. The narrator mentions Watanabe’s suicide, and Kikuko reveals that Watanabe murdered his wife and two children before killing himself. Without responding directly to this news, the narrator tells Kikuko that he sees the ghost, and describes her as an old woman in a white kimono. Kikuko thinks he is trying to scare her.
The siblings’ father sends Kikuko to finish making dinner while he takes the narrator on a tour of the house. He shows the narrator several empty rooms, and then a single cluttered room that houses a model battleship. The father briefly confesses his belief that the narrator’s mother committed suicide. When the family sits down to dinner, the narrator examines a photograph that depicts an old woman in a white kimono. The narrator’s father is surprised that he doesn’t recognize her as his own mother. When they begin to eat, the narrator asks the father what kind of fish he has prepared, and he replies: “Just fish.” After a long silence, the narrator asks if there is enough fish for seconds. The father replies that there is plenty, and they all reach for more.
After dinner, the narrator sits with his father in the tea-room. The narrator confronts his father about Watanabe’s suicide. His father admits that Watanabe murdered his family, an act he labels “a mistake”. The story ends as the father expresses his hope that his children will come back home to live with him. He admits his suspicion that the narrator will return to America, but believes that Kikuko will come home after finishing college.
