Tajima Yumi, in grade school, is overjoyed when her father says they are moving to an apartment in a big city. But the beautiful home she had imagined is in a slum area called Samurai Village, a little settlement, where people live from hand to mouth. To make things worse, a group of vagrants descends on the already crowded ragpickers' village. The sight depresses and saddens little Yumi, but when her father gives up drinking, it makes up for everything in her eyes, and when he runs past liquor shops to avoid temptation, Yumi's laughter rings out merrily again. A unique social drama depicting the growth of a new generation that confronts the world of adults full of vanity in the image of a girl living in poverty.

母が他界し、他人の家に預けられていた田島ユリは、父から都会へ引っ越すと聞いて大喜びする。しかし、転居先は「サムライ部落」と呼ばれる古い住宅で、そこには新しい母と弟が待っていた。そんなある日、ユリたちの住む一画に、ノブシと呼ばれる放浪者たちが大挙して押し寄せてくる。