The story opens on a street in Tokyo, Japan, where a princess has just returned from a trip to the land of the Ainu, the ancient people who live on the other side of the Pacific Ocean from the Japanese. The narrator tells the story of the princess's arrival and the struggle between the two peoples, which has been going on for a year. The princess tells the narrator that she has heard that there will be a concert to mark the anniversary of the Japanese Revolution. She asks the narrator to get ready to go to the concert.