The year is 1903, and tenacious and spirited Aoi Ichi is sold to an exclusive brothel, becoming the protégé of Shinonome, the oiran, or the highest-ranking courtesan. Education for a courtesan extends beyond the art of seduction, and as Ichi is taught to read and write she develops a voice that refuses to be dampened by the brothel's rigid hierarchy. Outside the cloistered world of the red-light district, rumours of local worker strikes grow, and as the seasons change in Kumamoto, Ichi, Shinonome and their fellow courtesans begin to wonder how they might redistribute the power and wealth of the brothels among themselves.
