Osode (played by Kawase Koiseko) sells toothpicks during the day and works at a lodging house at night. She has been searching for her sister Oiwa (played by Ryoko Sakaguchi), who eloped with Minamiya Iiemon (played by Koji Yakusho) two years ago and was abandoned by her husband, Yoichinana (played by Toyonojo Minamijo), just before their wedding. Living quietly in a tenement house in Yotsuya, Iiemon and Oiwa's only hope is for Iiemon to secure a government post.

The story comes to a horrific conclusion.