When a lone traveler stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.

He pulls out a pair of scissors that tends toward the sky. So begins his journey through time, space and memory. Seasons change, years pass. Wrapped in a mysterious box of sunset, the boy grows older, becomes adolescent, young man, adult, old, but - strangely - the memories are beginning to lead their own lives. "What memory, what reverie, what is real and what is imaginary? I do not know ... "

Genji, the son of the emperor, is the talk of the Kyoto nobility for his charm and good looks, yet he cannot stop himself from pursuing an unobtainable object of desire: his father's young and beautiful bride. Following the tragic consequences of his obsession, Genji wanders from one affair to another, always seeking some sort of completion to his life.