​A powerful priest uses his magical abilities to imprison the rain gods within a waterfall, causing a devastating drought. The imperial court sends a princess to his remote mountain retreat to seduce him and break his spiritual concentration.

Tragicomic road movie set during the Edo period. It follows a samurai, his two servants – including spear-carrier Genpachi – and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.