An old man cashes in all his possessions and sets off on a journey to the Tohoku region in late autumn. Along the way, he visits a friend on his deathbed and develops a faint affection for an elegant old woman, but the purpose of his journey is actually to find a place to die. He gives a large sum of money to a young couple, who are poor but have a dream for the future, and tries to throw himself into the sea. The movie depicts the loneliness of an old man who has lost his wife.