经营批发生意的大阪日野家,女儿百合(司美智子 饰)已到适嫁年龄,却迟迟未选定夫家,父母为此甚为焦急。儿子正夫(田村亮 饰)无心继承家业,对学习也没任何兴趣,只醉心于佛像的研究。他对姐姐存有深深的依恋,并不希望姐姐嫁人,因此常与父母发生争吵。 某日日野夫妻外出,助手岩下(花之本寿 饰)亦回家探亲,家中只剩姐弟二人。夜晚,姐弟终于突破禁忌,这层隐秘关系更被寺院主持荻野(冈村春彦 饰)。不久百合出现妊娠反应,为掩人耳目,正夫设计让父母同意将姐姐嫁给岩下,而自己则在荻野的建议下离开家乡,前往佛像雕塑师森康高(冈田英次 饰)处学习雕刻。一年后,正夫回到家乡,与姐姐旧情复燃,岩下无意间发现姐弟俩的秘密,伤心之余走上了不归之路……Set around a remote Buddhist monastery, it features Masao, a young son of a rich merchant who doesn't want to follow his father into business or go to college, preferring to study under a famous Master how to make Kannon statues of the Goddess of Mercy. At the same time, his sister Yuri is struggling to find a potential husband, only for it to explode when their horseplay in masks one day leads to an incestuous consummation that brings disaster to all. They fall in love, she gets pregnant but it's assumed to be someone else's, who she marries. A monk at the monastery knows the truth, and confronts Masao, who goes off instead to the master sculptor to be his assistant, only to then begin another affair with his wife, who in turn seduces her young son who, in horror, blames the whole business on Masao and sets out to kill him.