This film is based on Sachio Ito's novel titled "Nogiku no Haka" literally meaning "The Grave in a Daisy Flower Bed." The novel starts with a thirty-something Masao's monologue in which he decides to write down what happened to him and Tamiko when he was young. He says he cannot stop thinking of those happy and sad days over and over again. Masao remembers that Tamiko was pressured by the family and relatives to accept a marriage offer and died not long after she got married. Masao is married now through a similar marriage arrangement. At the end of the novel, Masao recalls the day when he visited the home of Tamiko's parents soon after her death. Masao was told that Tamiko was holding his photograph and a letter in her hand when she was found dead. It was the letter he gave her just before he left home to start a new school life. Masao and Tamiko's family visited her grave together and he saw her graveyard surrounded by full of daisies. He planted more daisies around. He admits his lasting emotion of love. In the film version, Kinoshita, the director, extends the original story by portraying Masao as an aged man of 73 years old. The elderly gentleman is on a dingy being rowed against the stream on his way to Tamiko's grave. The creation of an old Masao was an excellent cinematic achievement by the master director, who was able to enhance an incidental and passing emotion felt between two people in their youth into an eternal life-long love that is profoundly touching the emotions of the audience of all ages. "My First Love Affair" was chosen for the title of this film but it seems to miss the point that the director may have wished to make in the film. "My Love" or "My Only Love" may ring better as the title of this masterpiece. Kinoshita chose a title "Nogiku no Gotoki Kimi nariki", literally meaning "You were like a daisy in the field".
