Endless Desire

Ten years after the Pacific War, four ex-soldiers reunite with a purpose: to retrieve morphine hidden in an air-raid shelter. The shelter now lies beneath a butcher shop as the surrounding area becomes a shopping district. They at first suspect Sawai to be an intruder and worry about who truly knew the morphine's location.

Shima arrives and declares she is the younger sister of Lieutenant Hashimoto, who has died. The group treats her as a potential intruder at first, unsure of her loyalties. Her claim sets up later revelations about her true identity and motives.

The men rent an empty store from the corrupt landlord Kinzō and begin digging a tunnel toward the basement of the butcher shop. The project turns their operation into a makeshift construction site beneath the city. The digging deepens as they steadily approach the morphine stash.

Shima announces a bold wager: she will sleep with the man who digs up the most morphine. Her flirtation leads to seducing Satoru, one of the workers. The proposition injects jealousy and tension into the group as the hours pass.

Yamamoto is arrested for burglary but escapes and returns to the group. He tries to rape Shima, but Sawai intervenes and stops the assault. The escalating threat tightens the already dangerous atmosphere around the dig.

Kinzō announces that the area will be demolished within days due to a city council decree, turning their digging into a race against time. The threat of demolition puts pressure on everyone to speed up. Tension rises as the morphine retrieval becomes urgent.

In a violent confrontation, Sawai kills Yamamoto, removing a rival threat. The act deepens mistrust within the group as they push on toward the basement. The murder foreshadows the ruthlessness that will characterize the final days of the mission.

The group reaches the basement beneath the butcher shop and leaves Sawai behind, burying him under sand. He dies there while the others continue toward their goal. The internal fractures within the group become permanent as trust erodes.

With only Onuma, Nakata, and Shima remaining, Onuma learns that Shima is actually Hashimoto's widow and that Nakata is the intruder who had been charged with Hashimoto's murder. The revelations confirm deep deception within the group. The sense of danger intensifies as the stakes grow even higher.

Shima poisons Onuma and then stabs Nakata, intending to claim the morphine for herself. Her actions demonstrate that she will stop at nothing to secure the stash. The power struggle reaches a brutal apex inside the shelter.

Satoru stumbles onto the scene and calls the police, signaling the end of the illicit operation. The pursuit narrows as authorities close in on the killers. The sense of imminent capture hangs over the basement.

During a heavy rainstorm, Shima slips on a wet crossing and drowns in the river below. Satoru and the others flee as the downpour continues. The tragedy marks a somber end to the doomed quest for morphine.