A young novelist endures a series of personal upheavals en route to literary success. Her affairs with a handsome writer who encourages her to join a writer's group but betrays her in romance and an alcoholic writer who is at first supportive and eventually destructive prove costly for the talented writer. The film is based on the autobiography of Fumiko Hayashi, whose writings Naruse had previously adapted in the films Repast, Lightning and Late Chrysanthemums.