"Twenty-four Eyes" starts innocently enough in a poor fishing village in Japan in 1928 where twelve 6-year olds are set to attend school for the first time. Somewhat appropriately, they are getting a new teacher in the person of Miss Oishi(Hideko Takamine). What is not expected is her arrival, riding a bicycle and wearing western clothes, creating quite a stir. However, she did not mean to as her 10-mile commute is born of necessity which requires a bicycle which she is still paying off and her suit is made from her mother's(Shizue Natsukawa) kimono.

Five years later, the children will move on to the middle school from the simple schoolhouse but by then Japan is making its inexorable slide towards World War II. Even the promise of an education and a caring teacher can do little to alter their destiny that is further hampered by their economic status. All of which combines to make "Twenty-four Eyes" so heartbreaking.