A six-year-old boy is called before his mother inside a temple. She tells him he is destined to restore the Honganji school of Shin Buddhism, which he stands next in line to lead. Then she disappears without explanation. He grows up in deep poverty and hardship but holds on to what she told him. At sixteen, Rennyo sets out to carry the teaching across medieval Japan, hoping to revive a Buddhist lineage whose fortunes have fallen low. The film tells how a single childhood moment shapes his calling.