Masaki Kobayashi's classic 'jidai-geki' samurai drama is set in 17th-century Japan. Tatsuya Nakadai stars as Hanshiro Tsugumo, an aging and disenfranchised samurai warrior who enters the house of a feudal lord asking to commit the act of hara-kiri (ritual suicide) on his land according to the ancient samurai code. On arrival, Hanshiro begins to tell his tragic life story, which is played out in flashback, culminating in Hanshiro's violent revenge upon those whose hypocrisy and authoritarianism robbed him and his family of life, love and happiness.