The Boy and the Heron

In 1943, during the Pacific War, 12-year-old Mahito Maki's mother Hisako is killed in a fire. Mahito's father, who owns an air munitions factory, remarries his late wife's younger sister Natsuko, and they evacuate to her estate in the countryside where they live with several old maids. Mahito struggles in the new town as he continues to grapple with the grief of his mother's death, does not fit in at school and endures a tense relationship with Natsuko, who is now pregnant. Mahito also encounters a mysterious grey heron at the estate who frequently pesters him.