The action takes place in Ooedo Japan, when geishas and public houses appeared. Back then, girls raised in poor provincial families had little chances to get married successfully. The only opportunity to improve financial and social status for them was to move to Ooedo, the city of wealthy clans, and to become a servant or a geisha - and, perhaps, a lover of a rich feudal. Young and poor Oshizu has chosen this very path.