Shoichiro Kuki (Kōji Yakusho), a middle-aged publishing executive sidelined in his career, meets Rinko Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki), a calligraphy teacher trapped in a loveless marriage to a cold doctor. Both feeling unfulfilled in their respective domestic lives, they enter into a passionate, secret extramarital affair. As their physical and emotional intimacy deepens, rumors of their liaison spread, destroying Shoichiro's professional reputation and prompting Rinko's husband to refuse her a divorce out of spite. Unable to integrate their consuming, obsessive love into modern Japanese societal structures, the lovers decide to preserve their passion at its absolute peak by consummating their ultimate pact at a secluded snowy lodge.