First published in serial form, The Wild Geese is the story of unfulfilled love set against a background of social change. Ogai portrays with compassion and beauty the drama of a girl forced by poverty to become a moneylender's mistress. Around her, in scenes of humor and pathos, move the skillfully drawn characters of her weak-willed father, her lover and his suspicious wife, and a handsome student who is both the object of her desire and the symbol of her rescue.