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Synopsis

Three years after a wartime tragedy that claimed his mother, Mahito Maki leaves Tokyo with his father and new stepmother, Natsuko, seeking refuge at his late mother's rural family home. Struggling with grief and the disorientation of a new life, Mahito faces persistent provocation from a peculiar gray heron that seems unusually focused on him. Soon after their arrival he learns Natsuko is expecting, which intensifies his unsettled state. The heron then reveals an unexpected ability to speak and asserts that Mahito’s mother may yet be alive. It entices him toward a mysterious tower near the house, suggesting he could prevent her death, but Mahito remains doubtful. When Natsuko inexplicably walks into the tower and vanishes, Mahito follows in an effort to find her. He descends into a realm beneath his own where boundaries between life and death blur. As he journeys through this unfamiliar world to locate Natsuko and seek a path back, Mahito confronts his grief and learns what it truly means to live in order to return home safely.