For ten years, Eriko has been chasing her dream of becoming an actress in Tokyo. Returning to her hometown for her older sister’s funeral, she realizes that she might have to readjust her path in life. She deciof the to take care of her nephew and to follow in her sister’s footsteps as a mourner-for-hire.
A member of the jieitai ("Self-Defense Force"; i.e. Japanese military) is on leave and finds a woman giving birth in a graveyard in the former Yoshiwara district. He takes her to an inn to gove birth, and stays on a few days as she recovers, but becomes fascinated with the strange people he meets there, particularly the owner, who visits a house in his courtyard every day to talk and give food to his mother. He says she is very sick and can't leave bed, but no one else has ever been inside or seen her.