The movie begins with the arrest of John Fitzgerald Drummond, a British merchant buying cloth
from a silk shop.
While the arrest occurs, Yusaku Fukuhara, a man running an import-export business, is
re-acquainted with his old friend, Taiji.
Dressed in a squad leader's uniform, he tells his friend that he just got transferred to
the Kobe squad in the area.
After a brief exchange of small talk, Taiji informs him of Drummond's arrest and explains
that the foreigner is accused of espionage and other suspicious activities.
In response, Yusaku calmly laughs, refusing to believe his client is a spy.
The conversation ends as Taiji leaves the establishment, telling Yusaku to choose his
friends carefully.
Not too long after, Yusaka continues his filming project with his wife, Satoko, and his nephew,
Fumio Takeshita.
After the shoot, they present it to their co-workers in the company in a private screening.
The following day, Drummond goes to Yusaka's house.
Having warmly welcomed, he thanks the couple and explains to Satoko that Yusaka paid bail
for his release.
After giving them the details of his arrest, he tells them he's leaving for Shanghai.
Before leaving the house, he gives them three rolls of fabric as a gift.
As Yusaka and Satoko go over the soft sheets rolls, Yusaka tells her he must go to Manchuria
next month.
He explains that there are a lot of investments he wants to make in the region.
Knowing that the war is ongoing, Satoko becomes concerned and tells him it's dangerous.
However, he insists on his decision, telling her he wants to see the places in the region.
When Yusaka prepares to leave with Fumio, Satoko says her goodbyes as she watches her
husband and nephew walk away.
Later, Satoko writes a letter to Yusaka's parents, attempting to comfort them while
their son travels to Manchuria.
However, she gets interrupted when she receives a telegram from Yusaka that he'll return two
weeks later than the agreed date.
Days later, Satoko and her maid walk up a mountain carrying yams.
Coincidentally, they encounter Taiji, who was Satoko's childhood friend.
When they ask him about his business in the mountains, he tells them that he's on his
way to get natural ice.
After congratulating him on his promotion to squad leader, Satoko invites him to her
house for whiskey.
Without skipping a beat, Taiji accepts her invitation.
When the two get together, Taiji points out Yusaka's absence.
Strangely aloof, Satoko assures him she has no ill intentions behind her invitation and
reminds him of their time-old friendship.
Taiji disappointingly calls out Satoko's clothes and how she and Yusaka have been wearing Western
clothes and drinking foreign whiskey.
Sakoto defends herself, saying she has no choice since Yusaka makes the decisions.
Weeks later, Satoko brightly greets Yusaka as he comes back from his trip to Manchuria.
Soon, Fumio announces to the firm that he'll be leaving the company to write a novel about
what he's seen in Manchuria.
When the room empties, Yusaka tells Satoko he might go to America.
He proudly tells her he wants to see all the magnificent places in the US.
As the night stretches, the lovers continue indulging in wine as they enjoy each other's
company.
Satoko grows suspicious of her husband the following day when she finds a letter addressed
to him.
When she asks Yusaka about it, he replies half-heartedly, saying that it's from Drummond
and nothing important.
The next day, Taiji asks Satoko to meet him in his office.
When she does, Taiji shows her a photo of Hiroko Kasukabe, a female staff member from
Tachibana Inn.
He explains that her corpse was recently found and that Fumio had coincidentally been in
the establishment when the murder occurred.
He sternly asks Satoko if she knows anything about the situation, which she declines.
He further adds that Yusaka was involved in Hiroko's employment.
He ends with a warning, telling Satoko that he and the military will be watching her and
her husband closely.
Returning home, she immediately tells Yusaka about her meeting with Taiji.
Yusaka admits that he had been acquainted with Hiroko.
However, when Satoko asks for details, Yusaka refuses and begs her not to ask any more questions.
Fighting between her suspicions and devotion to her husband, Satoko begins weeping, eventually
ending the conversation when she tells her husband that she trusts him.
Later in the evening, Yusaka confronts Satoko when he notices that the ice they'd been using
differs.
Straightforward as usual, he reminds Satoko that Taiji has feelings for her.
He adds that she has always been good at pretending not to notice.
Things get worse when Satoko wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare about
Yusaka having sexual affairs with Hiroko.
As time passes, her suspicions about her husband grow immensely.
The following day Satoko makes her way to Tachibana Inn to talk to Fumio.
Upon her arrival, the establishment's owner informs her that Fumio's demeanor has changed
so much over the months.
Without a second to waste, she asks her nephew for the truth about Manchuria and their relation
to Hiroko.
Fumio answers her questions vaguely, seemingly distant, feeding into Satoko's confusion.
As an argument ensues, Fumio grows hysterical, paranoia taking over him.
Despite her nephew's visible discomfort, Satoko persists in asking for the truth.
Immediately, Fumio grabs a wrapped translation file and tells Satoko that it's for Yusaka's
eyes only.
He adds that he can't leave the inn because the military is watching him.
Despite her confusion, Satoko goes to Yusaka's firm and waits until everyone leaves.
When the time comes, she calls his attention but refuses to give the translations.
Instead, she rips open the file herself and goes through the contents.
However, before she can go into the details of the notebook, Yusaka grabs the translations
and keeps them away in a safe.
Knowing that he can't keep secrets for long, he explains to Satoko that he and Fumio had
managed to visit the Kwantung Army in Manchuria.
Although he only wanted to procure medicine, he discovered that the army had been conducting
inhumane experiments on captives and burning mounds of their corpses.
He further adds that he had met Hiroko there and that she was a nurse and the lover of
the military's doctor.
He explains that the doctor was killed trying to disclose information about the secret experiments.
Yusaka tells her that Hiroko was entrusted with the notes and hard evidence of the army's
activities.
He tells her that Hiroko's life is in danger, so he brings her to Tachibana Inn.
He explains that he had gotten English translations of the notes to impeach the Japanese army
and plans to go to the US to give them a reason to join the war to stop the Japanese.
Despite Satoko saying that it would make him a traitor to his own country, Yusaka calmly
thinks he must do something because he can't take the injustice in the army.
Unable to accept her husband's words, Satoko accuses him, telling him that Hiroko brainwashed
him as she angrily leaves the scene.
While Yusaku visits a doctor, Satoko makes her way to the firm and steals the notes and
film evidence, accidentally knocking off a nearby chess set.
She goes out of her way to meet Taiji again, but before she can say anything, Taiji informs
her that Hiroko's killer has been arrested.
He explains that the killer was the inn's owner, who had developed feelings for Hiroko
and raped her.
In a sly attempt to build distrust between her and her husband, Taiji tells her that
Yusaku wants Hiroko to study in the US as a nurse.
He explains that Yusaku had applied for a visa and had planned to go with her.
Despite her visible discomfort with this newfound information, Satoko reveals the translations.
While the army tortures Fumio, Yusaku is taken away for interrogation.
After a quick range of questions from Taiji, Yusaku manages to decline all accusations.
Taiji drops Fumio's bloodied nails on Yusaku's hands, explaining that Fumio confessed to
being a spy.
When Yusaku asks who gave the evidence, Taiji evades the question.
Instead, he warns him to stay away from betrayal and to remain loyal to the country.
When Yusaka returns home, he becomes furious at Satoko for giving the notes to Taiji and
shows her Fumio's nails.
She calmly responds by saying that Fumio's sacrifice was needed to achieve their goal
of getting the evidence to the US.
After showing him the English translation she had saved, Satoko projects the film evidence
where the army documents its horrific activities.
She encourages Yusaka to pursue its goal of impeaching the Japanese military and fleeing
to the US.
The couple goes to an abandoned warehouse to take the evidence in a hidden safe.
There, they contemplate the actions they're doing against the country.
Nevertheless, Satoko lovingly assures her husband that she accepts him for his genuine
intentions.
She brightly tells him that she'll accept the role of being the wife of a spy.
After watching a movie about the Allied forces going against the Japanese army, Yusaka tells
Satoko that the US has imposed an oil embargo on Japan, making him unable to find a legal
way into the country.
Satoko voices her concern about Hiroko and asks if he really has planned to go with her
to the US.
Yusaka assures her that he was never planning on going with her and that he had only applied
for the visa to make it seem less suspicious.
The couple agrees to use the only way to go to the US, defection.
They continue counting the costs and measures they must take to prepare for their journey.
Yusaka explains the plan to Satoko and makes it a point that they must go into the US separately.
Because of that, Satoko begins breaking down, refusing to be separated from her lover.
She explains that she's not afraid of capture or death but only wants to be with him.
However, Yusaka convinces her to stay vital for a more significant cause.
Upon retrieving the film in preparation for their escape, Yusaka tells her that she doesn't
need to live in hiding and assures her that they'll eventually find allies.
As they make their final preparations, he instructs her who she should see at the port.
The following day, Satoko gets driven to the port.
There, she finds Bob, someone Yusaku hired, and gets taken to the ship's basement, where
she gets put in a large crate.
He explains that she'll get two meals daily and closes the lid, leaving her in the darkness.
However, just as Satoko makes herself comfortable, she hears men yelling outside to search all
the cabins and crates for a stowaway.
When she looks through a peephole, she sees Bob surrounded by soldiers.
Eventually, he gives up her location, and they take her to Taiji.
After successfully evading the number of questions Taiji has for her, Satoko asks him how he
knew about her location.
Taiji explains that he received an anonymous letter saying a stowaway was on the ship.
Despite Satoko's attempts to calm him down, she gets a slap on the face.
Curious to see what's on the film, Taiji gets his men to assemble the projector.
However, Satoko's face lights up when the film projects the homemade film she and Fumio
had made instead of the army's activities.
She immediately runs to the projector, laughing hysterically and screaming just before fainting.
Years later, Dr. Nozaki visits Satoko in a mental institution.
He informs her that Yusaku was last seen in Bombay, India, possibly riding a ship to LA.
However, he adds that the ship had sunken due to a Japanese submarine.
When he offers to arrange for Satoko's release, she declines his offer, explaining that the
place fits her.
In the middle of the night, everyone wakes up to shaking and alarms going off.
The nurses quickly tell them it's an air raid, gesturing for everyone to run for their lives.
As the room soon empties, Satoko remains.
She calmly walks out, telling herself that Japan will lose and the war will finally end.
Walking barefoot over the debris and ruins, she drowns in the noises of battle and screaming
children.
The movie ends with Japan's defeat as Satoko runs across the shore, crying hysterically,
unable to keep in her screams of grief, pain, and agony.