Kei Kitahara, a visionary screenwriter who has taken postwar Japan by storm, has made the difficult decision to lay down his pen for good after he realizes the people he’s been basing his characters on have all met unfortunate ends. He spends his days in misery, waiting to die, until a reason to live finds him in the gutter, too drunk and beaten to move. Kei can’t help but be attracted to his savior’s bewitching innocence, and the urge to write about him grows stronger by the day. Knowing he can’t take the risk, he vows never to use his pen against him, but will temptation prove too great?