本片是小津戰後僅有以嚴寒冬季為背景的電影，開首幾個簡單的暮色鏡頭，確立了本片灰暗的主題及調子。銀行家杉山周吉自妻子離他而去後，獨自將兩名女兒撫養成人。已出嫁的孝子跟丈夫鬧離婚，逃到父親家中避難，而未出嫁的明子將做未婚媽媽，卻仍夜夜痴纏，在夜店等待負心漢出現。另外，私奔多年的母親突然回家，為的是介入兩位女兒的生活。及後明子終於借錢打掉了腹中塊肉，卻承受不了殘酷的現實，最後只剩下父親孤單的身影。小津晚期作品少見如斯戲劇化的故事處理，其中主角豁達面對生命的態度，更成為了小津後期作品的出路。
Ozu's central themes of family, sadness and transience are revisited again in this buried treasure of minimalist melodrama. The opening scenes of the twilight scenery is marvellously grim, which is totally appropriate for this tale of disintegration of a family. The married elder sister of the family has run away from her alcoholic and abusive husband and return with her child to her parents' home. Her younger sister, who is pregnant and has just been abandoned by her boyfriend, undergoes an abortion before both of them discover a family secret that has devastating result. Hara Setsuko is triumphant in her role as the elder sister who has to go through all the emotions and sufferings of the character.
