Manchuria, 1934 - As a Foreign Officer of this Japanese puppet state, Chiune Sugihara (Toshiaki Karasawa), uses his Russian language skills and his network of informants, to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union. This information will be used to give Japan the upper hand in the negotiations for the transfer of the railway in northern Manchuria. To his credit, the intelligence he gathers results in the Soviets’ asking price of 625 million yen being bargained down to 140 million, the following year.

In the course of his activities, he enlists the help of the Kwantung Army (Japan’s military force in Manchuria), which betrays him for its own nefarious purposes, resulting in the loss of Sugihara’s comrades. Disgusted by the situation and the direction he sees the puppet state he had served with such dedication, he tenders his resignation and returns to Japan.

At his new job at the Japanese Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, he meets Yukiko (Koyuki), the younger sister of his friend Kikuchi, and marries her. Having been appointed to Japan’s embassy in Moscow, he is about to embark on a longcherished dream, when the Soviet Union declares him persona non grata. His contributions to the negotiations over the railroad purchase have made the Soviets suspicious of him, and they refuse the much commended intelligence officer entry to their country.

1939, Kaunas, in Lithuania. A perfect spot from which to observe the growing chaos in Europe, Sugihara is appointed to this chosen site for a new Japanese consulate. He establishes an intelligence network, with his new Polish comrade Pesch, analyzing the information he gathers and sending it back to Japan. Shortly after his arrival there, Germany invades Poland, and with it the outbreak of World War II. Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis begin arriving in Kaunas and to the Japanese consulate seeking visas and safe passage to countries out of the reach of the Germans. Their numbers and their desperation increasing day by-day and unable to obtain approval from Tokyo, Sugihara ignores all possible outcomes and takes it upon himself to issues transit visas for Japan to the refugees...