The daughter of a Prime Minister turns down the proposal of a young teacher when she falls for the wrong man. Despite the continual degradation by the man she loves, she is unwilling to leave her awful relationship.

On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.