 The narrative alternates between three characters ( Emiko , Anton and Sophie ) and takes place around the fiftieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima , though the back story of each character is told . Emiko was a small girl living in Hiroshima with her parents , younger brother , and grandfather during WWII . Following the atomic bombing , with her parents dead , Emiko and her brother recover in a hospital and her grandfather cares for patients . Though her brother dies , Emiko travels to the United States as part of a group of girls receiving reconstructive surgery . On the way , the American media takes an interest in the girls and she appears on an episode of This Is Your Life thanking the American audience for bringing her to the US . She later becomes a documentary filmmaker and , in 1995 , approaches Anton Böll to be part of a new project . 
