Summer has arrived in the Japanese countryside. Hiroo, a mischievous 10-year-old boy, is playing with his mother when an army jeep pulls up in a cloud of dust. An officer and his sidekick emerge. They are there to enlist the child and turn him into a soldier in the service of the Emperor. Against all odds, Hiroo refuses and runs away. The two soldiers give chase, but Hiroo's mother intervenes, risking her life.

Muriel makes regular trips to Belgium where IVF is legal for lesbians. Getting pregnant at 40 is not easy, particularly if fertility clinics refuse to treat you, and your girlfriend is reluctant to become a mother.