Gwen, an American servicewoman stationed in Japan, is a closeted lesbian who has no desire to let anything get in the way of her Air Force career...until she meets a beautiful Japanese woman through her part-time English teaching job. Mieko, a seemingly contented housewife, has been nursing secret frustrations all through her married life. When a love affair blossoms between these two women, the impact on the people around them is explosive, and events begin to unfold with all the inevitability of classic kabuki drama until the tale reaches its shattering climax.