Tsukamoto concludes his highly personal war trilogy, following Fires on the Plain (2014) and Killing (2018).
The film is set in a black market that begins to come to life again after the devastation of World War II. In a small Japanese restaurant almost completely destroyed by fire, a woman earns a living by selling her body. Her entire family died during the conflict. A war orphan sneaks into the woman’s house to steal, while a young demobilized soldier arrives as a customer. The three begin an unusual life together. But it doesn’t last long: the soldier’s war memories eventually destroy the lives of all three. The orphan, after telling the woman that a black market vendor has offered him a job, leaves with him on a journey, ignoring the woman’s attempts to stop him. The street vendor is a fearless man, but his journey has the horrific purpose of putting an end to the wounds he suffered during the war.