The Country Doctor’s Son

After six years away, Yōsuke returns to his father’s country medical household with failed ambitions, unpaid debts, and a deep sense of shame. His family welcomes him warmly. Yet familiar rooms and peaceful fields cannot restore the certainty he has lost.

His father offers work and a practical philosophy of contentment; Yōsuke answers with ideas he can barely express. His younger sister Fusako searches for a purpose of her own, while the household’s easy acceptance of village behavior brings her growing fear. Nearby, a young maid becomes the focus of Yōsuke’s concealed desires.

Through summer gardens, an autumn mountain view, and the long confinement of winter, affection and estrangement continually overlap. The arrival of spring brings recovery, but also a revelation that forces Yōsuke to confront the meaning of his own actions.