Mahoroba

SYNOPSIS

Midori lives alone in Tokyo. After a long absence, she makes the trip to her family home in the village where she was raised. City life is going okay, but after a breakup with a boyfriend on the verge of their being engaged, Midori's trip home is also a stop on the path to healing after heartache. Midori's mother Hiroko doesn't like that her eldest daughter is unwed and living in Tokyo. Hiroko desperately wants her daughter to find a man to marry into the family, so they may produce a son who will carry on the family lineage. Hiroko tries to find out what put this latest relationship to an end. Family matriarch Tamae and local girl Mao intervene to calm the situation, but Hiroko's chiding continues.
There is another reason for Hikoro's disconsolate mood. Midori's younger sister Kyoko, also in Tokyo, leads a freewheeling life and does not know who fathered her own daughter Yuria. Hiroko feels her younger daughter has brought shame to the family.
It is the night of a famous local festival. As tradition has it, the men take part in the festivities while the women stay home. Midori's home is in the throes of preparations for a dinner party. Suddenly, Yuria arrives unannounced. It would appear she is pregnant. She says her boyfriend is the father, but that she can't marry him. Meanwhile, Midori is experiencing some strange physical symptoms of her own, but can't bring herself to tell anyone.