Famed onnagata (a man who plays women's parts in Kabuki) Tamasaburo Bando follows up on the success of his directorial debut, Gekashitsu, with this soft-focused romance about love and obligation, based on a novel by Kafu Nagai. Set during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kaede (Sayuri Yoshinaga) is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant. When he dies, she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchant's family. The film opens with her working in a high-class brothel abutting Tokyo Bay. Though she has passionate affection for a drug wholesaler, whom she loves as well, Kaede is swamped with not only debts to the bordello and family obligations -- she is expected to support her parents and her sister -- but also guilt over losing her child. This pain is only increased when Kaede learns that her daughter is being abused. She does the only thing she can: She buys back her child by signing on at the brothel for a longer stint.

明治も終わりの頃。奉公先の旦那の手がついて妾となったものの、旦那の死により縁を切られ、生まれたばかりの娘・お種も里子に出し故郷に戻ってきたお浪は、士族であった父の病気と多大な借金のため、深川州崎遊郭の大店『大八幡』に身を売り、楓という花魁となっていた。三年ぶりに故郷に戻ってきたお浪は、お種が里子先でひどい仕打ちを受けていると婆やのおさわから聞かされ、店のお松の知恵を借り、年期を延ばして借金を重ねる。