Grandmother O-Rin has long thought that it is time for her to go to the god Narayama, but things do not let her go: her son is widowed, her grandson is out of hand, who will take over the household, the house, the order in the family if O-Rin leaves. And O-Rin does not leave, keeps the hearth, instructs his grandson, looks for a new wife for his son, lives the life of his village, dreaming of how he will finish his business and go to eternal rest on a snowy mountain. And her son Tatsuhei, who adores his mother, awaits that day with fear. He is torn between the need to pay his last debt to her - to escort her to the mountain - and the passionate desire for a long life for her.