Kaori's mother became pregnant during her fourth year at university. When she told her boyfriend, he demanded an abortion and then disappeared. Determined to have the baby despite her family's objections, she left university and raised Kaori alone. Working while caring for a child was harder than she could have imagined, but she never regretted it because her daughter's smile was her happiness. Years later, an assault by Kaori's adult boyfriend becomes the start of a continuing sexual affair.