Woman in the Dunes

Un homme marche dans le désert. Il observe les insectes, les photographie, les ramasse. S'étant arrêté pour se reposer, il est accosté par trois villageois qui lui proposent de passer la nuit dans leur village. L'homme est escorté jusqu'à une fosse au fond de laquelle une femme l'accueille et lui offre repas et couche. Pendant la nuit, la femme sort et ramasse le sable qui s'écoule des parois. Au petit matin, l'échelle de corde a disparu et l'homme se rend compte qu'il a été fait prisonnier.

O entomologista Jumpei Niki (Eiji Okada) realiza pesquisas numa praia isolada. Após perder o ônibus de volta, ele acaba encontrando abrigo numa estranha casa de difícil acesso. Lá vive uma misteriosa e solitária mulher (Kyôko Kishida), que luta diariamente contra a areia. Agora, porém, ela tem uma companhia e um escravo para realizar o árduo trabalho: Jumpei, transformado em seu prisioneiro.

A schoolteacher, Niki Junpei (Eiji Okada), goes on an expedition to collect insects that inhabit sand dunes. When he misses the last bus home, the villagers suggest that he stay the night. They guide him down a rope ladder to a house in a sand quarry, to stay with a young widow (Kyōko Kishida), a meek and simple woman whose husband and daughter were killed in a sandstorm and who now lives alone. She is employed by the villagers to dig sand for sale to be used in concrete and to save the house from burial in the advancing sand.