An old man awakens, disoriented, in an unfamiliar room with a single door and window, a bed, a desk and a chair. With no memory of who he is or how he has arrived there, he pores over objects on the desk, examining the circumstances of his confinement and searching his own hazy mind for clues. Determining that he is locked in, the man — identified only as Mr. Blank — begins reading a manuscript he finds on the desk, the story of another prisoner, set in an alternate world the man doesn't recognize. Nevertheless, the pages seem to have been left for him, along with a haunting set of photographs. As the day passes, various characters call on the man in his cell — vaguely familiar people, some who seem to resent him for crimes he can't remember — and each brings frustrating hints of his identity and his past. A middle-aged woman called Anna enters and talks of pills and treatment, but also of love and promises. Will Mr Blank ever have enough time to ever make sense of all these clues? All the while an overhead camera clicks and clicks, recording his movements, and a microphone records every sound in the room. Someone is watching. A chilling and poignant novel, a mystery about responsibility, ageing, and memory, set in a disturbingly familiar world.