Shortly after her mother's funeral, meek and mild-mannered Masako has an unprecedented violent clash with her sister. In a fit of fury, Masako strangles and kills her. Masako's immediate reaction is to contemplate suicide, but her fear of the karmic consequences prevent her from doing so. When the police begin investigating the death, she steals the cash donated by the funeral guests and flees to Osaka, which is overrun with refugees from the 1995 Kobe earthquake. There she takes a job in a fleabag hotel run by a debt-ridden gambler. When he is found murdered, she flees again, and through a stranger she meets on a train ends up working in a tiny karaoke bar where she becomes part of a grown-up extended family. On the run, Masako's odyssey forces her to discovers inner resources she had no idea she possessed.