This 9 1/2 hour Japanese epic anti-war saga, based on Junpei Gomikawa's six-volume novel about a man's struggles to remain dignified in the face of the horrors of WW II, is divided into three parts No Greater Love (1958), Road to Eternity (1959), and A Soldier's Prayer (1961). The story centers around Kaji, a young man sent to oversee a mining operation in occupied Manchuria. Somehow he manages to keep a tense situation from turning violent until the Chinese workers explode in a violent revolt against their Japanese oppressors. Kaji is powerless to stop them. Later when the military police begin a massive series of beheadings of the Chinese workers, the humane Kaji objects resulting in his being accused of being sympathetic toward the enemy. The police torture him and then send him to the front lines where he must endure a long series of indignities. Through the long ordeal, Kaji calms himself by remembering that he is a good, decent man who loves his wife with all his being.