In 1940, Masaaki Takaoka works as a teacher in the agricultural division at a youth training institute. Although Japan’s defeat seems imminent, all of Masaaki’s students are drafted in a futile last-ditch effort. In an attempt to give the young men some hope, he makes everyone promise that they will all meet again under the cherry blossoms upon their safe return. Consumed by sadness over the fate of his students, Masaaki devotes the next 30 years of his life to develop a new species of cherry blossoms that could thrive in any climate in remembrance of his students.

Yoko the Cherry Blossom

Shiwasu's mother left their home when Shiwasu was a little girl. Shiwasu does not understand why. She is a woman now and working at a Shinto shrine as a shrine maiden under her father who is a priest. She is listless until she finds a little boy alone on the shrine's grounds. The boy's mother shows up and retrieves her son a couple of days later. That is not the end of it however. The boy is back soon and has marks and bruises on his body. In the meantime, there was petty theft going on.