River of First Love (2004)

8 year old boy, Shinpei, who loves fishing and painting, lives with his beautiful mother, surrounded by nature His mother, Satsuki, has a weak constitution and lost her husband years ago She takes care of her son lovingly but sometimes strictly, on her own Shinpeis childhood sweetheart, Sayuri, is deaf, but somehow they can understand each other and they always spend time together One day, big news comes to their town Shinpeis picture received the Grand Prize in a Childrens Pictures Exhibition in Paris On the night that Sayuris father, Takakura, holds a celebration party for Shinpei, Satsuki leaves her son in Takakuras care and goes out of the house Feeling uneasy, Shimpei goes to look for her but finds his mother dead, lying calmly and peacefully in the beautiful, white snow Fast forward to the future, Shinpei has been offered a fake job in Tokyo Sayuris father arranged everything so that Shinpei would not interfere with Sayuris marriage