When an amateur photographer notices “HELP” scrawled on a fogged window in a picture she took of an old house, she begins to suspect that the man living there isn’t as mild-mannered as he seems.

This engaging series of childhood recollections tells of an unconventional school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. The school had old railroad cars for classrooms and was run by an extraordinary man – its founder and headmaster, Sōsaku Kobayashi – who deeply valued children’s independence, and who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.