"Ooku" is the story of the picturesque lives of the women living in the hidden, maze-like inner structure of Edo Castle. Inside, the women wielded their beauty and knowledge: some of them to win the Shogun's love, obtain political power, or to climb the ladder of the Ooku hierarchy. Their lives were filled with romance, hatred, anger, envy, tears, and persecution. Of the three-century history of the Tokugawa Ooku, this drama focuses on the last several years. It tells the story of the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Ooku, and also the lives of the women who lived through these times.