Directed by Mori Masaki and starring Issei Miyazaki, Masaki Kōda and Tatsuya Jo, it depicts World War II in Japan from a child's point of view revolving around the events surrounding the bombing of Hiroshima and the main character's firsthand experience of the bomb.

Barefoot Gen was dubbed by Streamline Pictures in 1995, and was previously released in subbed format in the United States on June 13, 1992.

Gen Nakaoka and his family live in Hiroshima, Japan during the final days of World War II.

Gen and his brother Shinji help their father, Daikichi, in the family's wheat field and try to find food for Kimie.

On August 6, 1945, Gen and a friend arrive at school just as a lone B-29 aircraft flies overhead and releases an atomic bomb, which destroys the city.

Gen finds Kimie trying to rescue their family, who are buried alive under their burning collapsed house, but Daikichi urges his son to take care of his mother and the baby.

Gen loots a few bags of intact rice from a ration warehouse and takes them to his mother to eat along with some fresh vegetables.

Kimie points out a few bald spots on her son's head, who recollects the memory of the soldier dying from the unknown illness.