Kenji Ôyama and Kinuko Wakamizu have no child, so they adopt their nephew, Norio Ôtsuka. But they are a country couple and he is a city child, so when the other boys go climb oak trees to fetch acorns, he is frightened. Ôyama wants the boy to call him 'father' instead of 'uncle', so he acts like one and pushes Norio to do more.
Hiroshi Shimizu directed this 30-minute movie, with his usual keen eye for the ways of the small town and children. He had spent his career, until this point, as a utility director, with a taste for stories of rural towns. Here he was making one of the movies that would be the earlier movies of what would become the main focus of his career: the well-being of children.
