Matsunaga Hisahide has risen in rebellion against warlord Nobunaga Oda. The aesthete Furuta Sasuke is ordered to negotiate for peace.

Sasuke becomes a pupil of the tea master Sen-no Sôeki. Nobunaga reveals his ambition to unify Japan and then wage war on the continent.

Hideyoshi orders Rikyû to commit seppuku, and appoints an executioner: Furuta Oribe.