Nikuko is a boisterous, jovial, scattered, and passionate lady who lives in an otherwise tranquil northern Japanese coastal town. She is also the single mother to 11-year-old Kikuko, who is in many ways her polar opposite. Kikuko is a thoughtful, quietly interested, and methodical young woman who approaches life in this small harbor town in a string-bean fashion. Nikuko embarrasses Kikuko as any mother of a preteen might, but Nikuko's audacious nature makes her particularly well-known in a community where Kikuko herself would prefer to blend in. While Kikuko navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school, augmented with accents of magical realism from her ever-present imagination, a surprising revelation from the past threatens to destabilize the pair's fragile connection.