The film zooms in on the emotional turmoil of a young model caught between her desire to lead a free life and marry only for love, and her latent wish to emulate her elder sister, a perfect housewife (ryosai kenbo, the epitome of Japanese womanhood). Conversely, this "perfect wife and mother", having grown weary of her domestic life and her boring but mild-mannered bookworm husband, finds herself tempted to open up to life.