"Temple of the Golden Pavillion" - About the psychological decline of a novice Buddhist monk. After the death of his father, the stammering Goichi Mizoguchi seeks succour and loftier insights in religion. Only to find all too soon that reality and the imagination are worlds apart. The social upheavals that began after World War II did not stop even at Buddhist temples. Convinced that all loftier values have long since degenerated, he sets fire to the Kinkaku-ji temple, thereby annihilating the symbol of his own dashed hopes.