Towards the end of World War II, they flee the bombing of Tokyo for her parents' estate in the suburban Musashino.

Her cousin Eiji Ono, a wartime profiteer with loose morals, and his wife Tomiko live near-by.

Tadao comes home drunk every night, has sexual relationships with students, and also propositions Tomiko.

Yet Michiko resists Tsutomu's advances because she is married and does not want him to fall prey to permissiveness.

However, when she learns of her husband's plans to swindle her out of her inheritance and run off with Tomiko, she decides to commit suicide to frustrate Tadao's theft, leaving most of her estate to Tsutomu.