12-years-old Kotoko becomes an orphan, losing her family due to the war. With nowhere else to go, she meets an older girl who leads her to an underground refuge, and Kotoko learns to earn money by shining shoes. But when she discovers that the older girl is selling herself to men, Kotoko decides to disguise herself as a boy. Alone again, she encounters a group of orphaned boys surviving under the protection of a local ganga (yakuza) clan. Living on the margins – selling newspapers, stealing hidden supplies, and trading on the black market – they find a fragile sense of freedom in the ruins. Meanwhile, Kotoko’s former teacher, Sone, is struggling through the post-war chaos. Pregnant with the child of her fiancé who died in the war, she loses her job and falls into poverty. Forced to work at a dance hall for occupation forces, she is eventually pushed into prostitution, leading to the gradual deterioration of her mental and emotional state. At her lowest point, a chance encounter at a hospital reminds her of a letter she once received from Kotoko’s father’s friend in Nagasaki, expressing concern for Kotoko’s fate. Driven by guilt and a sense of duty, Sone sets out to find the girl she once failed to protect.