A widowed mother lives with his only son of 8 in a remote place of a village, takes care her farm full of cows and crops. She works hard especially in the springs. One rainy night an unknown man comes to take shelter and goes away the next morning. He comes back after some days and tells that he will work with her in exchange of his shelter. The woman takes him as a salaried staff. The man and the woman work a lot in the farm. Day by day the unknown and mysterious man win the heart of the mother and son both. But everything is not everlasting. The man must have to leave for a reason. What is the reason? Why he came here?

One of the best drama movies ever. The place where the movie is located is such a great place full of natural elements. I love this movie. Recommended.

I have first seen this movie in the 80s. I was only a child and the movie was on Romanian television, who at that time only transmitted in black & white. Funny how I still remembered the opening scene with the stranger arriving at an isolated farm during a storm. I found the movie now almost by chance. I heard that Ken Takakura died last year and I was very sad to hear it, I always liked his stoic acting. I searched IMDb for his movies and found this one among others. I love the movie. I have seen others with better plot, better directing, maybe better actors ... maybe. But there is something so authentic, so simple and yet so deep about this movie that I just love it. By the way, the last scene is incredible. One of the all-time classics, in my opinion. If you can get the movie don't miss it.

This is my favorite of the films I've seen by director Yoji. Its a simple story, but its so well put together and the two leads, Ken Takakura and Chicko Baisho, both of whom have acted in Yoji films, give straightforward but heartfelt performances. Ms. Baisho's character is a widow with a young child running a farm in northern Japan. On a very rainy night Mr. Takskura's character appears, asking to spend the night. He stays on as a hired hand. The best thing is that there is not a cliché to be found in this film. As the hired hand came from parts unknown and does not appear to have anywhere to go, you wonder where he came from. You find out eventually, but I want you to see this film for the superb direction, story and acting. I really liked Mr. Yoji's "The Yellow Handkerchief" (which Mr. Takakura also gave a stellar performance),but I loved this film. Highly recommended.