Восемь новелл, связанных лишь тем, что они являются «снами» режиссёра. Среди них рассказ о том, как молодой Куросава попадает в картину Винсента Ван Гога и встречается там с самим автором. Также рассказы о жертвах Второй мировой и об апокалиптических картинах ядерной войны. В одной из новелл, повествующей о лисьей свадьбе, домик, на фоне которого стоит герой — маленький мальчик, является воспоминанием Куросавы о доме, в котором он жил в детстве. Весь фильм во многом автобиографичен.
Uta married a priest who saved her when she tried to commit suicide at a waterfall. The love triangle between a lustful priest, his second wife and his son Masao.
Ayame, a courtesan, attracts the attention of street vendor Kisuke and decides to run away with him to America. Unfortunately, a crazed tattoo artist is obsessed with Ayame's perfect skin as a potential canvas, so he kills Kisuke to keep Ayame in Japan. Later, Ayame is sold to a brothel in Yokohama. Kisuke's ghost possesses her, causing his image to appear tattoo-like on her skin whenever she has sex.
In a rural village with a poorly understood but long standing curse from the Dog God, outsiders from a major Tokyo mining corporation scouting for uranium destroy a small shrine and crush a dog under their jeep wheels. After one of the mining company employees marries the daughter of a prominent member of the village, the Dog God’s wrath boils over and people start to die. The village girl and mining company employee start a new life in Tokyo, but the Dog God possesses her and she is deemed mentally ill. The couple returns to the village to perform an exorcism, but it is unsuccessful. As the body count accumulates, the cause of and remedy for the curse becomes more opaque.
