in 1965, when faced with the crisis of the largest coal mine in mainland Japan barely hanging on by a thread, the town of Joban—where the mine is located—planned to create a “Hawaiian paradise” in the cold, northern region as a means of reviving the town. The featured attraction is to be a hula show, for which a dance instructor is brought from Tokyo to teach the young coal miners’ daughters. These girls find a new lease on life as they absorb the essence of hula dancing and help the instructor rekindle her true passion for it.