The joys of motherhood can feel a long way off during Takahisa Zeze’s “Tomorrow’s Dinner Table.” This handsomely overwrought drama lays out the challenges facing modern moms, in three interlinked tales of very different women whose sons share the same name.

Rumiko (Miho Kanno) is a freelance writer living in Kanagawa Prefecture, who blogs about her experiences raising two rambunctious, argumentative boys. After putting her career on hold, she’s trying to return to full-time work, and hopefully split the parenting duties with her errant photographer husband (Soko Wada).

Asumi (Machiko Ono) lives a seemingly idyllic life as a well-to-do housewife while her husband commutes long-distance to Tokyo from Shizuoka Prefecture, though there’s clearly some tension lurking beneath the surface. Meanwhile, Kana (Mitsuki Takahata) is a plucky single mother in Osaka, who’s working two jobs in order to support her son.