The original version of a classic, well-loved Japanese melodrama paired stars Kinuyo Tanaka and Ken Uehara in the first of many films together. Katsue and Kozo, a nurse and a doctor who work together in a medical clinic, swear their love for each other by the katsura tree, which is said to bring eternal happiness to lovers. But in prewar Japan, where tradition and family ties hold sway over love and the realities of life, Katsue cannot reveal to Kozo the existence of a child by her first husband, and an O. Henry-like story of hidden meanings and misinterpretations unfolds.