  The motivation, present status, and future plans of the search for the
neutrinoless double beta decay are reviewed. It is argued that, motivated by
the recent observations of neutrino oscillations, there is a reasonable hope
that neutrinoless double beta decay corresponding to the neutrino mass scale
suggested by oscillations, <m_{\nu}> of about 50 meV, actually exists. The
challenges to achieve the sensitivity corresponding to this mass scale, and
plans to overcome them, are described.
