( Story - This story is based on factual events )

Manchukuo (comprising Manchuria, now the northeast region of the present-day People’s Republic of China and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) was a puppet state established in 1932 (and ended in 1945) by the Japanese Imperial Kwantung Army to secure its interests on the Chinese continent.
Many Japanese migrated to Manchukuo impassioned by the idealistic spirit of its founding. However, when WWII came to an end, hundreds of Japanese settlers were left abandoned on the continent.
Manchukuo (comprising Manchuria, now the northeast region of the present-day People’s Republic of China and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) was a puppet state established in 1932 (and ended in 1945) by the Japanese Imperial Kwantung Army to secure its interests on the Chinese continent.
Many Japanese migrated to Manchukuo impassioned by the idealistic spirit of its founding. However, when WWII came to an end, hundreds of Japanese settlers were left abandoned on the continent.
Ai, a public health nurse, is one of those settlers. Her fiance is Shunsuke, a primary school teacher who also came from Japan to Manchuria pursuing an ideal of education. In the middle of their wedding ceremony, an air strike begins, and Ai and Shunsuke barely escape with their lives. Fleeing, the two arrive at a village where Shanron and his mother live.
On learning that the two are Japanese, Shanron is visibly angry, and Shunsuke decides on the spot to pretend that Ai is his sister.
In the face of villagers who wish to kill the two to exact their vengeance, Shanron’s mother shields the couple, saying “My husband was killed by Japanese soldiers.
I cried so hard out of grief that I lost my sight. No one hates the Japanese more than I do. But these two aren’t soldiers.
Let’s forgive them.” This is the beginning of the life of Ai and Shunsuke under Shanron’s roof.
While looked on coldly by the other villagers, Ai and Shanron help with outdoor labor and household chores.
Shanron, who originally held a deep hatred for the Japanese, also gradually starts to warm up to the couple.
One day there is a difficult childbirth going on in the village. Ai, who has experience as a midwife, safely delivers the baby.
In so doing, she earns the villagers’ respect.

Shunsuke notices that Shanron has begun to have feelings for Ai, and suggests to Ai that the two leave for Japan before the onset of winter.
Shunsuke and Ai descend the mountain and jump on board a train, only to find the train to be carrying armed anti-Japan resistance fighters.
Shunsuke senses impending danger, and to protect Ai he lets go of her hand. Ai is shaken from the train, and as she falls, she hears gunshots.
Ai returns to consciousness when Shanron comes to her rescue. Putting her sadness at the back of her heart, Ai begins life with Shanron and his mother, but carrying Shunsuke’s child.
One day Shanron’s home is raided by bandits. Gravely wounded, Shanron’s mother says to Ai, “The most important thing is that the child survives.
” She hands Ai a red cloth, telling her, “I wore this dress when I married into this village.
If you wear it, you will be the most beautiful bride in the village.
” With that, Shanron’s mother takes her last breath.
It is a sad parting. Ai takes Shanron’s mother’s wishes to heart, and before her fresh grave Ai calls her “mother” for the first time.
Shanron, keeping quiet about his feelings for Ai, asks to be made the child’s father. At the same time Ai resolves to make her life together with her soon-to-arrive child here in the Chinese country. Ai gives birth to a daughter, who is named Keika, and mother and daughter begin a happy life together. Then one day, after some three years have passed, something unexpected happens to Ai, Shanron, and Keika …