Sexual torment, jealousy, and impossible-to-resolve longing, Mishima's Thirst for Love is a portrait of the corrosive power of frustrated desire. The protaganist is Etsuko, a young widow whose philandering husband died horribly from typhoid. After moving into the house of her father-in-law, her misery deepens as she numbly submits to the old man's advances. But soon Etsuko falls in love with the young servant, Saburo. Tormented by his indifference yet invigorated by her anguish, she makes one last, catastrophic, bid for his attentions.