The film begins by asking, how do we know the difference between reality and the imaginary. It shares the life of a women who was born and raised in Japan. She had a husband and two young daughters. We later find out that she also gave birth to a son, who died shortly after birth. We are taught that in Japanese culture in this time, not having a healthy son was the fault of the mother and her mother in-law instructed her son to get a divorce and take the children. After loosing her family, she became a "picture bride" and went to BC, Canada to meet her new husband. Upon arrival, she decided she did not want to marry this man and worked vigorously on farms and in factories to repay him for shipping her over. She later found another husband and had eight more children. She planted a slower garden that was wild and beautiful she loved flowers and spent much of her time in her garden. When WWII took place, Japanese people were removed from their homes and mistreated by the Canadian government. She and her family were gone for many years and when they returned home there was nothing of it left, not even her garden. On her 100th birthday she revealed to her family that she had another previously back in Japan. One of her daughters, her granddaughter and great granddaughter went to Japan to investigate this lost family. One of the two lost daughters was still alive and came to Canada to be reunited with her mother after 80 years of being separated. The reunited in a garden that the whole family had planted to replicate the original.
Obachan's story was heartbreaking. I cannot imagine what it would be like to come to a new country alone like she did. The story of her first family was tragic and her constant reminder of how she was lonely also made me feel badly for her. I think that her story being retold through her daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter acts a culmination of her hard life. It is significant that her story be told through the women of her family and not through the men, they gave her a voice, something she never fully experienced in a strict Japanese cultural upbringing.