In the last days of World War II, a Japanese platoon sustains morale by singing, accompanied by the delicate harp-playing of Private Mizushima. After the unit surrenders, Mizushima is tasked with convincing a holdout of cave-dwelling Japanese soldiers to lay down their arms. When his mission fails, he is counted among the dead. But Mizushima survives, and he becomes a monk, dedicated to providing proper burials for his fallen comrades in Kon Ichikawa’s epic humanist masterpiece.