Based on Kurosawa’s last screenplay, After the Rain opens in the manner of a classic Kurosawa film as a group of travelers find themselves stranded in a small country inn after encountering heavy rains. Among them is a poor ronin, or masterless samurai, who takes it upon himself to organize an elaborate feast to cheer up his weary colleagues. The plot complications that Kurosawa develops from this situation will take the ronin, a skillful swordsman who is down on his luck, into the employ of a powerful lord and on to a conclusion that the late director hoped would leave the audience "feeling cheered"—a feat that the Japanese director Takashi Koizumi achieves admirably.