Postwar Tokyo. Pin and Toku live in the squatter area of Kappanuma. Pin and Toku are avid gamblers. They take in Tsuru, a slightly demented woman who has run away from a geisha house.

Ginko, the daughter of a poor shoemaker Ginzo, a child was sold to a geisha. From a student she became a real geisha and made her debut under the name of “Peony”. Great anguish caused Ginko molestation host teahouse. In Ginko have a favorite person – doctor Kurisu, but she is forced to leave him and return home in Tokyo. But here, she had all the same poverty. Parents again sell Ginkgo, this time to the north. There she first landlord was going to marry her, but interferes with his mother, who has decided not to allow this marriage, shameful for the honor of the house. He eventually marries another girl. Caught in a quandary, Ginko returns to Tokyo and the third time it becomes a geisha. Hard work, constant bullying Ginko adjusted to the disease. Mistress of her first promises to break a contract in which she serves as Ginko, but when Ginko finally recovers, the owner easily abandons his promises and demands that Ginko continued to work on it.