This film is based on a real Meiji era performer -- and tells of Tochuken's partnership with his wife (played by Chikako Hosokawa) who played shamisen for his songs/recitations), his affair with a geisha (Sachiko Chiba), the deterioration of his partnership and marriage and the angry death of his wife (in a hospital -- due to lung disease) followed by his rather sententious poeticizing over her remains.