Owl

In Kibogaoka, around 1980, a 37-year-old mother and her 17-year-old daughter are the village's last occupants and are slowly starving. Facing extinction, they decide to survive by offering themselves as prostitutes to a dam construction site worker. The mother convinces the daughter to go along with the plan.

A dam worker visits, has sex with the mother, and pays for the encounter. They drug him with a drink passed off as Shōchū, but it is made from a poisonous plant. He dies, and the women haul his body away, celebrating the money they have earned.

The money from the first kill allows them to buy food and restore electricity and water to their home. The renewed comforts give them a temporary sense of normalcy as they plot their next steps.

They seduce the electrician at the dam site and poison him in the same manner as the first victim. The murder yields another significant payout, increasing their wealth and sense of invincibility.

They repeat the pattern with the plumber, seducing him and poisoning him to extract more money. The killing is clinical and cold, underscoring the women’s growing ruthlessness.

A third construction worker falls victim to their calculated ruse, adding to the pile of cash and food that sustains them. The body disappears as the disappearances draw attention from the authorities.

The women kill the boss of the electrician, a figure of authority who had overseen the workers. The death brings in more money and cements their ability to control their fate in the wrecked village.

The local police inspector arrives to investigate the disappearances from the dam project. The mother and daughter prepare to entrap him as part of their survival strategy, while Mizuguchi arrives with his own surprising motives.

The daughter sleeps with Mizuguchi for the first time, in exchange for a payoff that includes 500,000 yen. He tells her he intends to commit suicide to atone for the village’s creation, and she manipulates the situation to protect herself; he asks for 20,000 yen back to cover his travel costs as he leaves.

Mizuguchi returns, telling them that his planned suicide was a sin and that he now wants to marry the daughter. The dynamic shifts as the threat of exposure grows closer and the tension among the trio increases.

The inspector reappears, and the women hide Mizuguchi from scrutiny. When a stranger arrives at the door, they hide the inspector in another room to keep the men from complicating their plans.

Koji, the mother's nephew, arrives and reveals his own hidden history of vengeance. He explains how he avenged his mother’s mistreatment and shows how deeply the family’s crimes are entangled with past grievances.

Mizuguchi, the inspector, and Koji confront each other inside the house, and all three are killed in the ensuing struggle. The women attempt to control the aftermath as the bodies are dealt with.

The women manage to dispose of the bodies and then sit down to drink beer, quietly singing the village anthem as if nothing is wrong. The victory is hollow, but it marks another step in their self-preservation despite escalating danger.

A group of men, including police, the mayor, and the dam-building company chief, enter the now-deserted house slated for demolition. They recount nine corpses found with traces of poison but do not suspect the mother and daughter, who remain unseen as culprits in their stories.