Naruse was already aware that he was dying when he made this deeply moving drama of a young woman who is haunted by the death of her husband in a car accident. She refuses to forgive the driver of the car, who approaches her in sincere contrition. Slowly, however, she comes to realize that he stands out in marked contrast to the low-life milieu she encounters at her sister-in-law's inn where she works. A fated love grows between these two people who are joined by a horrifying incident. Audie Bock writes, "Yumiko represents the final transition of the Naruse heroine from the proud, self-sufficient woman whose men aren't good enough for her, to the woman whose experience of life is so painful that she chooses to remain alone rather than rub salt in the wounds. The bleakness of this tale, so delicately and beautifully told, must reflect something of Naruse's own feelings when he was facing the end of his life."