Dir.: Jun Ichikawa; Script: Shinsuke Sato; Phot.: Tatsuhiko Kobayashi; Mus.: Kazuto Shimizu, Reichi; Cast: Kyozo Nagatsuka, Mitsuko Baisho, Takaya Kamiwaka, Koba Hayashi, Reiko Nanao, Kaori Momoi, Satoko Abe, Masayo Maeda, Masashi Arifuku, Hiroki Kawano, Katsunari Hattanda; Prod. & Sales: Tetsuo Satonaka, Eisei Gejiko, c/o Shochiku Co. Ltd., 13-5 Tsukiji 1-Chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Japon), tél.: (81-3) 5550 1623, fax: (81-3) 5550 1654.

When Koichi Hamanaka suddenly shows up in his old Tokyo neighbourhood after a few years' absence, everyone is mystified. No one, not his parents, not his friends, not even the wife and child he left behind have any idea why he left, where he went or why he's returned. His wife Hisako, who is still wounded by his abandonment, greets him coldly. The local shopkeepers who meet in the Osawa Tearoom are equally puzzled. Tami Osawa, who runs the place, was Koichi's lover and while she's clearly happy to see him back, she's also a bit stumped by his behaviour. Koichi offers no explanations but he makes tangible efforts to reintegrate himself into the community. He improves his relations with the other shopkeepers and when Hisako informs him that he is responsible for the family debt, Koichi takes over his father's struggling electronics shop and successfully revives it as a computer software store. While Koichi was away, a writer named Asakura had taken an interest in Hisako. He's not pleased by Koichi's return and in trying to find out about Koichi's past he stumbles across some skeletons in Hisako's closet -- she was previously married and her husband died after a short illness. Asakura confronts Hisako with the information and she begins to confide in him. But, as the past resurfaces, it begins to complicate the present. The relationships between Hisako and Asakura and between Koichi and Tami will never be the same.