For the fourth time in a row, Hikoichi has failed to pass the exams to enter a prestigious university. He lies to his mother, a shop owner and widow who hopes for a brighter future for her son, that he passed the exams, and walks around in a student's uniform, pretending to be a freshman. When student activist leader Soratani is arrested by the police, he mistakes Hikoichi for a fellow student and orders him to bring the news of his arrest to his zengakuren comrades. Hikoichi, eager to be accepted by the activists as one of them, and trying to impress student Mutsuko, participates in a rally where many protestors are arrested. After his quick dismissal by the police, who realise that he is neither a student nor a political agitator, the activists suspect Hikoichi to be an informant.
