The film tells the story of four orphans living in an impoverished mining town. An adaptation of a best-selling book based on the diary of a ten-year-old zainichi (ethnic Korean Japanese) girl, it was one of the first films to deal with the subject of zainichi identity and struggles in Japan.

A drama film based on Ken Domon's photography of the children around the Chikuho coal mines.

Depicts four cheerful, young former college students with promising futures who die tragic deaths as pilots in the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps.