In the fictional Chinese town of Yong'an, an amateur cryptozoologist Is commission to uncover the stories of the city's fabled beasts, who live alongside humans in near-inconspicuousness. The Heartsick Beasts, for example, genetically engineered to be as loyal and loving as possible.

Aided by her former professor and his enigmatic assistant, the narrator sets off to uncover the beasts, and finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into a mystery that threatens her very sense of self.

Part detective story, part metaphysical enquiry, and written in prose that is both whimsical and daring, Yan Ge guides the reader through the underbelly of a chillingly uncanny world and questions what it really means to be human.