After Nozomi abandons Sedge, leaving him with a failing ceramics shop, her brother offers refuge at his Japanese hot spring inn. Sedge then gets involved with the wife of Nozomi's lover and her troubled stepson, torn between violence and his interests in birds, origami, and Basho's haiku. Set in Kanazawa and Yamanaka Onsen near the Sea of Japan, "The Heron Catchers" delves into recognizing suffering, compassion, and love in the wake of loss, unfolding near "the immortal mountain of cranes."