After 5 years in Tokyo, 5 part-time jobs, 5 boyfriends, Sawako's life is going nowhere. When her father gets seriously ill, she has to take over his struggling factory. Gradually she becomes the decider of her own life.

The story is of a quirky mother and son who live in a modern Japanese, urban setting. The mother Kyoko has been long feeding human meat to her introverted teenage son, Mitsuo, who can now tell the sex and nationality of the meat he is eating. One day at the supermarket, Kyoko finds herself picking up the wallet of another housewife, Kanno. Kanno urges Kyoko to accept a token of gratitude but Kyoko declines. Kanno finds the stubborn refusal disturbing.