The novel opens with images from Kiyoaki's childhood, in the years after the Russo-Japanese War: including a torchlight procession witnessed by Honda, a photograph of memorial services at Tokuri-ji on 26 June 1904, a lyrical description of the Matsugae estate near Shibuya, a visit by Emperor Meiji, and an account of Kiyoaki's role as a page for Princess Kasuga during New Year's Festivities at the Imperial Palace.

Back at the house, the Abbess delivers a sermon on the doctrine of Yuishiki or the consciousness-only theory of Hosso Buddhism, telling the parable of Yuan Hsiao, the man who, in pitch darkness, drank from a skull by accident.

Ten days later, on 6 November, Kiyoaki has dinner with his parents; they discuss his otachimachi (お立ち待ち), that had been held on 17 August 1909, and mention that Satoko has just rejected an offer of marriage.

Chao P is deeply in love with Kri's sister, Princess Chantrapa ("Ying Chan"), and wears an emerald ring she gave him as a present.

They ask Kiyoaki if he has a sweetheart and he names Satoko, although he has just sent her a "wildly insulting letter" the day before, in which he claims falsely that he has recently visited a brothel for the first time and has lost all respect for women, including her.

Chapter 7 describes Honda's stuffy household, and includes his musings on the Laws of Manu, which he has been required to study, and an anecdote about a second cousin, Fusako, who was caught making a pass at him at a family gathering.

One day in February, Satoko's parents travel to Kyoto to see a sick relative; taking advantage of this, she persuades Kiyoaki to skip school and join her on a rickshaw ride through the snow.

When they pass the parade ground of the Azabu 3rd Regiment he has a vision of thousands of ghostly soldiers standing upon it, reproducing the scene in the photograph described in Chapter 1.

The next morning, they meet very early in the school grounds and have a long conversation in which Honda expresses his conviction of the reality of fate and inevitability.

In Chapter 14, it is revealed that Kiyoaki has rewarded Iinuma for his cooperation by giving him the key to the library so that the tutor can meet Miné there secretly.

Satoko writes her first love letter, and Kiyoaki, torn between his morbid pride and his genuine passion for her, finally replies to it sincerely.

Infuriated, Kiyoaki tells Iinuma what has happened, and the tutor responds with a story which makes him realise that Satoko did indeed read the letter she was supposed to burn.

Chao P. asks Kiyoaki to return him his emerald ring from the marquis's safe-keeping; he has not received a letter from Ying Chan in months, and is pining for her.

One day, his mother leaves for the Ayakura villa in order to congratulate the family, casually informing him that the marriage to Prince Harunori will now definitely go ahead.

Astonished, she takes him to an obscure boarding-house in Kasumicho where he threatens to show Satoko's last letter (which he tore up) to Prince Toin if she does not arrange a meeting.

His friend is amazed, but supportive; not long afterwards, a visit to the district court solidifies his decision not to involve himself in the drama of other people's lives.

The Marquis Matsugae, fearing that they will leave Japan with unpleasant memories, asks them not to return to Siam immediately but to join his family at their holiday villa at Kamakura for the summer.

Count Ayakura is strongly tempted to punish Tadeshina, but she knows too much about his secret resentment of the upstart Matsugaes, and he cannot afford to give her any encouragement to reveal it—in particular, the instruction he gave her (in 1905) that Satoko should lose her virginity before any bridegroom chosen by the Marquis should touch her.

He turns up at the front door repeatedly but is always rebuffed, and his health declines as he forces himself to trudge through the snow from the inn in Obitoke to the convent and back again as a form of penance.

A writer for Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Mishima's novel begins slowly but picks up momentum in the second half along with episodes of sly humor as well as the tragedy of its finale.

"[3] In The New York Times, Hortense Calisher stated that Spring Snow is praiseworthy for "its marvelous incidentals, graphic and philosophic, and for its scene-gazing [...] no doubt partially researched, but the author's vitality and native omniscience are triumphant.

"[5] In 2014, Yasser Nasser of The Bubble lauded Spring Snow as easily the best of the Sea of Fertility tetralogy, as well as "one of those novels of the last century that is almost perfectly written, capturing a sense of tragedy that Japanese literature has always been so wont to do.

Nasser said the book is tonally consistent and that the novelist sticks to narrative "without getting lost in dream-like descriptions" like Yasunari Kawabata.

[6] A writer for The Quill stated that in Spring Snow Mishima "shows the sheer beauty and power that Japanese poetry can carry", and the reviewer described a speech about changing history as "perhaps [...] comparable to Shakespeare's 'To be, or not to be'" soliloquy.