Envisioned as a sequel to Repast until Setsuko Hara fell ill, Husband and Wife again centers on the problems of young married life that, exacerbated by economic circumstances, can erupt into a full-scale breakup. Ken Uehara and Yoko Sugi star as the young couple forced to live in a rented room in the flat of an eccentric friend (Rentaro Mikuni), whose presence irritates their latent dissatisfactions with each other. Audie Bock wrote, “The inconclusive ending of this film—will the couple survive happily or not?—will come to characterize the [Mikio] Naruse film and its resemblance to real life.”