Kurōzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. But the spirit that haunts it does not have a name or a body, only a shape: uzumaki, the spiral, the hypnotic secret shape of the world. It possessed the father of teenage Kirie's withdrawn boyfriend Shuichi, compelling him to end his life by remaking himself in its image. It grows in ferns, in seashells, in curls of hair, and in the twisting folds of the human brain. As events unfold, giant snails are sighted near the high school, an eerie glow shines from the abandoned lighthouse, mosquitoes seeking blood fly in drowsy circles, and babies seek to return to the womb. People become obsessed with swirl shapes and kill themselves in gruesome ways. The very smoke from the crematorium hangs in an ominous spiral over the town, reminding everyone that even in death there is no escape from the insane swirls! As the madness spreads, the inhabitants of Kurôzu-cho are pulled ever deeper into a whirlpool from which there is no return!