A fatherless boy's mother passes him from one aunt to another.

The story focuses on the widower Nemoto, ostensibly a businessman, who has one son, Kanichi, the hero of the title. Nemoto remarries; his new wife is a widow with a son and daughter of her own. However, Nemoto’s business turns out to be out a shady scam, and he disappears, leaving his wife to raise the three children alone. In order to support the family, she is obliged to become a bar hostess. She conceals this shameful employment from the children, but the truth comes out years later, after her daughter is rejected by her husband’s family when they investigate her background.

1934 film by Hiroshi Shimizu

船长的养女はるみ（美空云雀 饰）在船员们经常聚集的酒馆工作。她为了给养父治病，向老板借钱而欠了债。船员浜田健次（高仓健 饰）为了帮她筹钱，冒险参与了走私…