[1][2][3] Japan in the late Edo period: Three men — Sansai Dobe, Kawaguchiya and Hiromiya — are responsible for the suicide of seven-year-old Yukitarō's mother and father.

The adult Yukitarō becomes an onnagata, a male actor who plays female roles, taking the stage name Yukinojō.

Twenty years later, the troupe pays a visit to Edo, where the men responsible for his parents' deaths now live.

[3] The 1963 version was Hasegawa's 300th role as a film actor,[4] who plays both Yukinojō and thief Yamitarō.

The screenplay was written by director Ichikawa's wife, Natto Wada, based on Kinugasa's 1935 and Daisuke Itō's 1939 dramatisations.