A female tax auditor, Ryōko Itakura, inspects the accounts of various Japanese companies, uncovering hidden incomes and recovering unpaid taxes. One day Itakura persuades her boss to let her investigate the owner of a string of
love hotels who seems to be avoiding tax, but after an investigation no evidence is found. During the investigation the inspector and the inspected owner, Hideki Gondō, develop an unspoken respect for each other. Itakura is promoted to the post of government tax inspector. When the same case involving Gondō reappears Itakura is again allowed to investigate. During a sophisticated series of raids against the hotel owner's interests, she accidentally comes across a hidden room containing vital incriminating evidence. Six months later the two meet again. Gondō is tired after daily interrogations. Itakura tries to persuade him to surrender his last secrets for the sake of his son. Gondō asks Itakura to leave her job and come live with him, but she declines. He cuts his finger and writes the name of the secret bank account in blood on a handkerchief of hers that he saved from the first time she investigated him. ==Cast==