A young nursing student, Asuka Ninomiya (Atsuko Maeda) moves to a dilapidated apartment complex with her father, Isao; mother, Sachiko (Naomi Nishida); and younger brother, Satoshi. She tries to greet her elderly next door neighbor, Shinozaki, but with little success, and befriends a local boy named Minoru Kinoshita, whose only guardian is Shinozaki.