Adapted from the novel of the same name by American writer Arthur Gordon. The story unfolds in the first person, and the background of the era starts from 1929 and lasts until the end of World War II. The heroine recalls her life experience of struggling desperately and experiencing honor and disgrace since childhood. Sayuri (played by Zhang Ziyi), who has a pair of blue-gray eyes, was born in a poor fishing village and was sold to a well-known geisha house in Kyoto. Sayuri learned dancing, tea art, etc. there, and gradually became the top geisha in the local area. At the same time, she was constantly oppressed and challenged by Kyoto's first red geisha Hatsumomo (played by Gong Li). By chance, the most beautiful and famous geisha in Japan, Mamiyu (played by Michelle Yeoh), wanted to recognize Sayuri as her "sister", which changed Sayuri's life from then on...