The film starts with a travelling kabuki troupe arriving by train at a provincial seaside town.

He takes time off to visit a former mistress Otsune (Chōko Iida), with whom he had a son years before.

Kihachi and his son, Shinkichi, spend a fruitful afternoon fishing for dace in a nearby river.

To get back at Otsune and Kihachi, Otaka suggests to Otoki to try to seduce Shinkichi and offers her some money.

Otoki waits for Shinkichi at a tree by the road one day and offers to meet after her performance at the same place.

Rest of cast listed alphabetically: In 2005, the New York Guitar Festival commissioned the guitarist Alex de Grassi to compose a score to A Story of Floating Weeds.

The guitarist performed his original music to accompany the film at the 2006 New York Guitar Festival.