Two historical incidents that deepened the friendship between Japan and Turkey are connected in this story of friendship and compassion: In the night of 16 September 1890 the Turkish frigate Ertuğrul is caught up in a typhoon and sinks off the Japanese coast. Risking their own lives, local villagers are able to rescue 69 Turkish sailors. Although being very poor and having hardly to eat, the villagers share what little they have with strangers from a country 9,000 kilometers away. 95 years later, during the Iran-Iraq War, more than 300 Japanese are stranded in Tehran. In the morning of 19 March 1985 a Turkish Airlines aircraft takes off for Tehran to evacuate the Japanese. But the remaining Turks at Tehran Mehrabad Airport still need to be convinced that they won't be able to board their own country's rescue flight.

Sanpei is a young boy who lives with his grandpa in a small village in Akita and they both love fishing and are masters at it. His sister moved to Tokyo when their father died and blames it on the fishing. She thinks it's just a stupid play. Gyoshin, a bass professional fisher who lives and competes in America is in a slump and comes to the small village to try to find the joy of fishing again. Together, they all go to find the legendary big char of Yonakidani (The Crying Valley of The Night), which Sanpei's father once saw, but could never catch, before he died.

In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).

Former detective Gunpei Wakatsuki (Masao Kusakari) and former big thief Otomatsu Sekiya (Takashi Sasano), who live in the luxury elderly housing with care “Sharaku Home”, are a trio of 6th grade elementary school students, Isamu Tachikawa. Meet (Keita Ninomiya), Shota Inoki (Sotora Motomura), Chika Takami (Himena Negishi). One day, a baby is taken away at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic run by Isamu's father, Hiroshi Tachikawa (Takeyuki Yue). During the three minutes his mother went to the kiosk, she disappeared.