Benio "Haikara-san" Hanamura is the protagonist of the novel, who lost her mother when she was a child and has been raised by her father, a high-ranking official in the Japanese army. As a result, she has developed into a tomboy—contrary to conventional Japanese conceptions of femininity, she learns kendo, drinks sake, dresses in often outrageous-looking Western clothes rather than traditional kimonos, and is more interested in reading than housework. She also opposes arranged weddings and feels that a woman has the right to a profession and to marry for love.