Sachio, a popular novelist, loses his wife of many years in a bus accident, along with her best friend. He is with another woman when he hears the news and with any affection long gone from their marriage, he has to fake the grief everyone expects from him.
Under pressure to channel emotions he does not feel into his writing , he meets Yoichi, the truly devastated husband of his wife’s friend, left with 2 young children. Without really knowing why, Sachio offers to look after them while their father is at work.