In Edo Period Japan, a noblewoman’s banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.

Iemon Tamiya is an impoverished masterless samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely devoted to her husband.

A young man rents an apartment in Tokyo and discover it was built by his father. He falls in love with the daughter of the mistress of the house and…