SETTING: A town in Fukushima Prefecture in Tohoku District in the 1950s

SYNOPSIS:
A police station in a remote section of TOHOKU District is fairly busy. There a seven men department work. Chief ISHIWARI, Officers KANEKO and AKANUMA, a sensitive young officer YOSHII, a very naive officer HANAKAWA, YABUTA, who is proud of his Kendo skills, and an old experienced officer KURAMOCHI.
It is a very small town, but problems occur wherever humans live. Today, there are two people who are under investigation. One of them, MOMOYO, is a suspected thief, and the other is a pack-horse driver, who is believed to have taken donated money from a shrine. In front of the train station, an old man, MURATA, becoming insane after losing his child in the war, is controlling traffic, even through he has not been asked to.
Officer YOSHII finds abandoned children and takes them to the station. One is a six year old, named YUKI, and the other her infant brother. Not having any orphanage in the town, YOSHII desides to look after YUKI himself. He asks a familiar proprietress of a restaurant, HIDE, to bring up the baby.
The policeman, HANAKAWA, protects AYA from being sold into prostitution by an unlicensed mediator, SUGITA MOYO. AYA, however, attempts to enter this world to make money. HANAKAWA gives her money out of his small salary, and arrests MOYO as a suspected madam. MOYO, however, does not have any conscience about her deeds. HANAKAWA gets bewildered about how to control MOYO's acts.
SEI, having been arrested as a shoplifter, brings her child to the station to be cared for by the police. She is a pitiful woman who has been abandoned by her husband.
A former resident of this town has become a minister of International Trade and Industry. Hearing that he will be visiting, men of influence in the town, the town councilor and chief of the police become excited. Common people such as the "traffic controller" MURATA are puzzled with the arrogance of the minister and his group.
On this same night, the mother of the deserted children comes to claim them. Knowing that they are living happily, she returns to Tokyo, leaving her children behind.
A letter from AYA arrives at HANAKAWA's. In the letter he finds money, the same amount which he has given her out of his salary, and a red maple leaf.

NOTES:
This film's setting is a police station in a remote area of TOHOKU District. It depicts the lives of the downtrodden of society and the sorrows they often experience. TOHOKU, which was one of the poorest areas of Japan, is a rural area north of Tokyo. The inhabitants of this area were predominantly poor farmers, with few opportunities to escape their poverty.
This film is based on a novel by ITO EINOSUKE, who is known for his compassionate writing about poor farmers. IDE TOSHIRO wrote the script for this film and HISAMATSU SEIJI directed it with a warmth and sincerity he easily to his audiences. This film met with good response from the Japanese audiences.
MORISHIGE HISAYA and MIKUNI RENTARO were lauded for their exceptional performances. NIKI TERUMI, a child actress, appeared in this film, and attained such a good reputation. She later appeared in KUROSAWA's "Red Beard" (AKAHIGE) 1965.