On an island, a group of elementary school children spend their days with their teacher, Yoshioka Makotoware, a man who lost the ability to speak after an accident when he was a child. The film centers on the relationship that grows between him and his young pupils. Adapted from a best-selling novel by Shizuka Ijuin, this 1997 feature is a quiet slice-of-life story about a teacher and the children in his care.