Early Summer (1951)

the mamiya family is made up of two grandparents, the eldest son koichi and his wife fumiko, two grandchildren isamu and minoru, and sister koichi, noriko, still single despite having twenty-eight years. a third brother, shoji, died in the war. casa mamiya awaits the visit of a grandfather's brother. during his stay, noriko receives a proposal from his boss, satake, to marry a middle-aged businessman. all the mamiyas consider it a good opportunity and noriko herself does not seem to have much to object. however one evening the woman goes to greet the mother of yabe, a younger colleague of koichi's, once a friend of shoji, destined to go to run a provincial hospital. during the conversation yabe's mother lets out that she would have liked to see her son married to noriko. despite the fact that yabe is a widower and the father of a child, noriko accepts, leaving the stunned and joyful woman. the same evening noriko communicates her choice to the members of her family, raising many doubts. brother koichi is especially angry. however, noriko decides to keep his word to yabe's mother. after the young woman's marriage, and her transfer to akita, the two old grandparents also leave the house to go and live in the country with her grandfather's brother.