[1] In a Japanese port town, Tatsuo Sato (Gō Ayano), a traumatized man, spends his days drifting aimlessly and his nights drinking himself to oblivion.

Whiling his hours away at a pachinko parlor, he meets Takuji Ohshiro (Masaki Suda), a young man on parole who impulsively invites him to a shabby house on the outskirts of town.

There, Tatsuo glimpses Takuji’s bedridden father and callous mother, and meets his world-weary older sister Chinatsu Ohshiro (Chizuru Ikewaki).

While immediately drawn to each other, romance is an unaffordable luxury for the emotionally closed-off Tatsuo and the disillusioned Chinatsu, who sells herself to provide for her family and keep her brother out of jail.

"[6] Meanwhile, Don Brown of The Asahi Shimbun wrote of director Mipo O, "With her third and latest feature, [The Light Shines Only There], she has earned her spot as one of Japan’s most promising directing talents.