Suzu Urano is an innocent young woman who loves to draw pictures and lives in the seaside town called Eba district of Hiroshima. At the height of World War II in the Pacific with all the men off at the front, she finds herself as eldest daughter assisting with the family business of seaweed to make ends meet when an offer of marriage arises. The suitor is Shusaku Hojo, a young stenographer at the military court-martial who had fallen in love with her at first sight, but Suzu doesn’t remember ever having met him. Though uncomfortable with the idea of betrothing a man she doesn’t know, she gets swept along by the people and circumstances around her until marriage becomes a foregone conclusion. She finds the task of winning acceptance by Shusaku’s family hard going despite all of her pure and earnest efforts in this touching story of family love and survival amid the crucible of war.

The setting is the Tsukishima district of Tokyo where the Summer Olympic Games will be held in five years. A small old-fashioned confectionary shop, “Sakuraya” stands as a remnant of the past amid the rapidly changing cityscape. Akiko Sakurai has been running the shop on a shoestring for over 50 years, along with her grandson, Taro (33) whom she raised form childhood after he lost his parents in a traffic accident. With them also is Reiko, a single mother who has returned to Tsukishima with her child. Seemingly left behind by a fast-moving world, Taro appears as something of a “loser” who finds himself reexamining his lost childhood in an effort to move forward. Life takes a strange turn when his grandmother, Akiko, receives a letter that she is being sued for damages because her cat, Mi-chan, allegedly scratched up a neighbor’s luxury car. What should be an easy case to win turns into a fumbling mess at the hands of Taro who can’t seem to win for losing in this wacky yet endearing and slightly heartwarming late-night drama.

The relationship between father and child is showcased each week in 10 episodes penned by different writers, and featuring 10 pairs of leading actors. A former boxer (Koji Yakusho) trains his daughter (Hikari Matsushima) to participate in the Olympic Games and survive in a highly competitive world. Another father (Tsunehiko Watase) and son (Kankuro Nakamura VI) formerly at odds with each other embark on a pilgrimage inspired by the death of the wife and mother. All the stories are suited for viewing by the whole family yet delve into universal themes with which everyone can identify.