Eric, an American, arrives at an international tourist hotel and loses his self-defense Colt. It was Kudaira, a beggar, who discovered it, and immediately sold it to Matsuko - another pauper. Soon, the weapon that moves from hand to hand, becomes a tool of many crimes.

In a military family, an illegitimate son is brutalized by his brothers. A patriarchal, feudalistic household where dissent is forbidden is used to reveal the whole imperialist system that afflicted Japan between 1921 and 1946.

The story deals with a juvenile delinquent gang surviving through petty thievery. However, everything gets screwed up when they accidentally steal big bucks from the Yakuza.