When their father dies during their mother's hospitalization, a Filipino family goes to extreme and absurd lengths to hide the truth.
Divorced salaryman Yoji has just buried his mother in Tokyo. With few meaningful relationships left, he comes to grips with the realization that he has nothing to live for. A chance encounter with Minerva, a Filipina migrant worker who appears to sense his sadness, urges him to see his situation in a new way. A former nightclub entertainer, Minerva now works as a caregiver to provide for her only child in the Philippines. When Yoji discovers the decomposing corpse of his neighbor, an old man whose name he does not know, the death is ruled a kodokushi, or the lonely death. Unwilling to meet the same fate, Yoji throws caution to the wind to follow Minerva to Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.
Maria Isabel Pagunsan Lopez-Melrod is a Filipino actress and beauty pageant titleholder. Lopez won the Binibining Pilipinas Universe 1982 and represented the Philippines in the 31st Miss Universe Pageant in Lima, Peru. She became known as the first beauty queen and actress appearing in Sex in film. Lopez was married to Hiroshi Yokohama, and then later married Jonathan Melrod in the United States. She is a mosaic artist and has appeared in various roles in Philippine cinema and television.