Keiko’s suicide forces Niki to come back home in order to support her mother. Etsuko is left alone after a death of her second husband and her daughters’ moving out. Her spacious house seems to be too big now. Obviously, recent events revive old recollections and drive her to unpleasant conclusions.
Her first matrimony could hardly be described as bliss. Nevertheless, it was not a complete disaster either. Even if Jiro was neither attentive nor caring, they did have pleasant moments. A little flat and a soon-to-be-born child helped her to recover from horror of a war and start enjoying that peaceful life.
Several years later, Etsuko fell in love in a man from England. She proved to have enough courage to leave both her homeland and her past behind, starting everything anew. When she gave birth to her second daughter, she persuaded her husband not to give a child a Japanese name. Niki seemed to please them both.
Keiko’s life was not even a little bit enjoyable. Her reclusiveness and lack of interest in others averted her from finding a common language with her step-father and Nikki. She was found in her rented flat in Manchester by a landlady. A vision of her hanging from a ceiling often haunted Etsuko.
When Etsuko and Niki were sitting in the café, Etsuko spotted a playing girl. Looking at her, she immersed herself in memories. Back then, in Japan, her friend Sachiko, guided by love for an American man named Frank, wanted to take her daughter Mariko away, forcing the child to put up with the idea of living in America. Then Etsuko believed that it was a rather cruel thing to do. In the end of the story, Etsuko understood that she was equally thoughtless, for she did the same thing. Eventually, Niki returns to London, leaving her mother alone.
