Bartered for favors, fifteen-year-old Oba Toshiko, daughter of a provincial warlord, enters the women's quarters of Emperor Go-Shirakawa where her talent and innocence excite the emperor's lust and the dangerous jealousy of Lady Sanjo. An accidental and forbidden meeting with the nobleman-physician Yamada Sadahira tempts Toshiko's heart and tests her loyalty to her family. When her enemy strikes, she makes a desperate choice to be with Sadahira.