While covering a story in New York City, a Seattle-based reporter uncovers a link between two missing women that changes her lead entirely. Now, with her editor breathing down her neck, she works with her friend and a local art dealer to turn in the headline of her career, a task that takes them precariously close to danger.

The Winter Butterfly is a story about passion and love, depicting Matsunaga a samurai, as a corrupt oppressor rather than a hero. With the emergence of a new system during the Meiji period, many things changed in Japan for the sake of progress. The story told in four parts is related to the seasons of the year, which can be scorching, amenable, cold or unpredictable. All evoked by Stephen Warbeck's beautiful and sensitive score.