A twenty-seven-year-old office worker travels to the countryside while reminiscing about her childhood in Tokyo.

Unmarried career woman Taeko Okajima (Miki Imai) takes her first extended trip outside her native Tokyo when she travels to rural Yamagata to visit her sister’s family during the annual safflower harvest. On the train, Taeko daydreams about her pre-adolescent self. As her vacation progresses, she has extended flashbacks about the frustrations and small pleasures of her childhood, and wonders if her stress-filled adult life is what the young Taeko would have wanted for herself.

When people think of Studio Ghibli, films like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke might be the first to come to mind. All of these films were directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who has undoubtedly gained more fame among the general public than the other two co-founders of the Japanese studio. Miyazaki’s attention to detail and fidelity to realism in his work have made him one of the biggest names in animation, but there is another person who has given us cinematic masterpieces under the Ghibli banner, who sometimes goes unnoticed. I’m talking about director, screenwriter, and producer Isao Takahata.