Night Drum is a powerful condemnation of the abuse of women under feudalism, perpetuated by a rigid code that prevented individual men or families from protecting their women. When the samurai Hikokuro returns from a sojourn in Edo, he is met by rumors of his wife Tane's infidelity, and his entire family is in an uproar in anticipation of what this might mean to their financial status in the community. Despite a genuine love for his wife, Hikokuro allows the rules, which call for punishment by death, to prevail in accordance with the wishes of the family. In a significant coda to the action, Hikokuro is seen in the village, his hair grown out, his body a shell, the feudal system having taken its toll on him, as well, in the form of his humanity. The film, based on a Chikamatsu play derived from an actual incident, interprets and expands the original plot, using a flashback narrative construction, to, as Sybil Thornton wrote, "condemn the family as the source, rather than as the victims, of the oppressive system."