Synopsis
‘Meshiya’ is a small one-man, counter-only operation, where Master (Kaoru Kobayashi) serves up good food in a comfortably informal atmosphere. Several of the regulars tonight, having attended funerals, are in black clothing, and now Setsuko (Aoba Kawai) comes in, also in black. She has not been to a funeral, however; she simply goes out dressed in black as a way of striking up conversations in bars to relieve work-related stress. Some days later, however, she goes to a real funeral, meets an attractive middle-aged man (Koichi Sato), and falls in love. The man, however, turns out to be less than what he had seemed.
Meanwhile, the widow Seiko (Midoriko Kimura) runs a nearby soba noodle shop. She is a somewhat controlling mother to her son Seita (Sousuke Ikematsu), who she does not know is involved with Saori (Hijiri Kojima), older than he is, also a regular at Meshiya, and a friend of Seiko. Seita, to make matters worse, prefers the Master’s thicker udon noodles to the soba his mother makes.
Tricked into believing her son is in desperate need of money, Takiko (Misako Watanabe) flies to Tokyo from distant Kyushu. Sympathetic to her plight, the regulars take her under their wing, and team up to help after her brother-in-law (Hisashi Igawa) reveals why she seems so hesitant to contact her son.
Everyone has a story; all through the year they come to taste Master’s down-home cooking, and to leave the Midnight Diner refreshed and full.