In pre-Meiji Japan, low ranking samurai Seibei Iguchi leads a simple life without glory. As a widower, he does not drink and socialise with fellow samurai, preferring instead to tend to his two daughters and his senile mother. Earning the nickname 'Tasogare Seibei' (Twilight Seibei) as he is always home by nightfall, he struggles in poverty to make ends meet.

Suddenly re-entering Seibei's life is his long time unrequited love Tomoe, who wishes to divorce her brutal husband. However, the samurai code is strict and with social conventions against them, the consequences for the pair may be tragic...