A Japanese private, Mizushima, fighting in Burma during WW II, is an accomplished musician and scout well-liked by his unit. When the war ends and the group is sent to a POW camp, Mizushima is asked to go an convince another Japanese unit that the war is over. That unit refuses to surrender and is destroyed by the British in a bombardment where Mizushima is knocked unconscious. He is tended for by a Burmese Buddhist monk and when finally well enough to travel tries to make his way back to his unit. While travelling, he comes upon the unburied bodies of many Japanese soldiers and takes it upon himself to bury them and pray for their souls. Meanwhile, Shoji's friends mount a search for him, eventually noticing the monk to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance.