Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?

二战之后，日本街头呈破败景象。家庭主妇大和田和子（田中绢代 饰）一面等候参军的丈夫，一面苦苦维持家中的生活。然厄运如影随形，和子得到丈夫伤重身亡的噩耗，为了救治身患肺结核的幼子，她不惜出卖肉体，但不久儿子也病重死去。
在此之后，和子与其所在公司的社长栗山（藤井贡 饰）相恋。栗山私下进行违法勾当，同时与和子的妹妹夏子（高杉早苗 饰）私通。得知一切的和子辞去工作，彻底沦为站街女。令她无法相信的是，丈夫的妹妹久美子（角田富江 饰）亦被骗堕落风尘，而夏子也没能找到期盼已久的幸福……
根据板荣二郎的小说《女性祭》改编。

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.