Eighteen-year-old, plain-Jane Kiyomi witnesses the death of her parents in a country road accident. Her sister, the comely wannabe actress Sumika, returns to the family's small rural homestead to collect her inheritance before the bodies are cold. Big brother and local wood-cutter, Shinji, informs Sumika about cash flows and tells her she has to wait. Since Sumika can't afford to return to Tokyo, the out-of-work actress takes up residency in her old room alongside her siblings and Shinji's desperately cheerful wife, Machiko, who does her best to relieve familial tensions with forced joviality.