Venetia lives in Ohara, Kyoto Prefecture, appreciating each season. Worried about her failing eyesight, her half-sister Lulu comes to Japan for the first time. Venetia left the UK feeling ill at ease in aristocratic society. Lulu moved to Ireland with their mother. They have kept close. They reminisce about their mother over bread & butter pudding, their childhood favorite. At Venetia's friends' herb garden, Lulu shows interest in how herbs are grown in an herb-unfriendly humid climate just like Ireland's.