Ren has nearly completed his graduate degree at Keio University when he receives news of his sister's violent death. He heads to Akakawa to conclude her affairs, failing to understand why she chose to turn her back on the family and Tokyo for this desolate place years ago. But then Ren is offered Keiko's newly vacant teaching position at a prestigious local cram school and her bizarre former arrangement of free lodging at a wealthy politician's mansion in exchange for reading to the man's ailing wife. As Ren comes to know his sister's world he realises that she kept many secrets, even from him.