Shinya Sugi is an architect who lost his parents at 15, and then his sister to illness. Now, he sleepwalks through life as a water meter reader until a friend takes him to a rice ball shop called Tachibana. There he is dumbfounded to meet the owner, Kaoru, who looks identical to his late sister. Kaoru has a knack for helping customers untangle their life problems and bring a smiles to their faces. Shinya, however, poses his biggest challenge in this miraculously heart-wrenching drama.

It was the height of the Japanese economic bubble when Naoki Hanzawa landed a coveted job in a major bank. But he finds the life of a banker to be a stormy one. As a loan officer section chief, Hanzawa works to finance the Nishi Osaka Steel company 5 million dollars at the insistence of his stubborn branch manager, Asano, and without collateral! What appeared a blue chip company is actually a heavily indebted concern that has been cooking its books. Within 3 months of the loan, Nishi Osaka Steel goes bankrupt, and Hanzawa and his bank have been deceived out of 5 million dollars. Not willing to take the heat and jeopardize his career, Asano plots to lay the blame on Hanzawa. When called to headquarters in Tokyo to attend investigative hearings about the fiasco, Hanzawa decides instead to deny the money is lost and vows to recover it himself. A believer in the goodness of people, but aware that deception costs double, Naoki Hanzawa's life as a legendary maverick banker begins.

A high school student’s mother passes away leaving her alone with her grief. The girl, Marimo, discovers the name of a father she never knew. Marimo sets off to meet him, but is completely shocked when she finds someone very different from the father she envisioned. Her father, Shinpei, a 38-year-old would-be private detective, is shocked too, and doesn’t believe her until he sees the paperwork. With Marimo muttering “The worst father in the world” and Shinpei lamenting the loss of his freedom, these two are about to learn how difficult and rewarding a father/daughter relationship can be.

Hina, a student at Nikko High School, goes out one evening with Beniko, a girl from her year. They get split up and Hina ends up in a strange meeting with a man named Ikumi in a game arcade. The next day, Ikumi turns up as the new teacher at her school. Ikumi doesn’t seem to recognize Hina but the wheels of fate are slowly moving to reunite them in what is a passionate story of forbidden love.

Seri, an unknown yet talented female chef from the country, arrives in Tokyo to work at French restaurant, Etoire, but discovers that they have gone out of business due to the departure of their main chef. Together with the restaurant’s former manager, she opens a French restaurant of her own and begins to recreate the flavors her late father mastered as a famous gourmet chef. Unfortunately, Etoire returns with an unscrupulous manager, and to make matters worse, Seri learns that it happens to be owned by her birth mother living in Paris who she hasn’t seen since she was a child. Seri wonders if her passion and skill will be enough to succeed.

Soon to be married, Miyuki and Makoto are ready to start a beautiful life together. However, Makoto is asked by his company to take care of a problem overseas right after the wedding. Miyuki’s married friends are envious that she can still work and maintain some independence in her single married life, but Makoto’s parents suddenly become ill and it falls to her to care for his bedridden father. Can Miyuki find a way to cope with her familial obligations in her husband’s absence?