It is 1948. Japan is rebuilding her cities after the calamity of World War II her people putting defeat behind them & looking to the future. The celebrated painter Masuji Ono fills his days attending to his garden his house repairs his two grown daughters & his grandson & his evenings drinking with old associates in quiet lantern-lit bars. His should be a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to the past
- to a life & a career deeply touched by the rise of Japanese militarism
- a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity.