Sodehagi, daughter of the warrior Kenjō Naokata, left her family to become the wife of the rebel leader Abe no Sadatō. Now blind and reduced to begging, she arrives at her father's estate with her young daughter Okimi in tow.

In the deepening snow outside the Tamaki-no-Miya Akemi Palace, Sodehagi plays the shamisen and chants a saimon — a narrative prayer — pleading for her parents' forgiveness. Meanwhile, inside the mansion, a crisis is unfolding: Kenjō Naokata faces demands to commit seppuku for having lost custody of the imperial prince Tamaki-no-Miya, and tensions mount.

Eventually, the nobleman Katsura Chūnagon is revealed to be none other than Abe no Sadatō in disguise. Minamoto no Yoshiie sees through the deception and identifies him. Yoshiie and Sadatō promise to meet again on the battlefield, then part ways. The curtain falls with a profound lingering resonance.

While this intimate drama of parental love unfolds outside, a life-and-death crisis over seppuku proceeds inside the mansion. The interweaving of stillness and action, of private emotion and public duty, creates an atmosphere of extraordinary tension across the entire stage.

In the final scene, when Katsura Chūnagon is unmasked as Abe no Sadatō and he and Yoshiie promise to meet again before parting, there is a faint glimmer of hope amid the sorrow — deepening the lingering emotional impact of the play's conclusion.