TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD TAKAKO has enjoyed a relatively easy existence-until the day her boyfriend, Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he's been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako's life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru.

An unusual man who has always pursued something of an unconventional life, especially after his wife, Momoko, left him out of the blue five years earlier, Satoru runs a secondhand bookshop in Jimbocho, Tokyo's famous book district. Takako once looked down on Satoru's life; now, she reluctantly accepts his offer of the tiny room above the bookshop rent-free in exchange for helping out at the store. The move is supposed to be temporary, until she can get back on her feet. But in the months that follow, Takako surprises herself when she develops a passion for books, becomes a regular at a local coffee shop where she makes new friends, and eventually meets a young editor from a nearby publishing house who's going through his own messy breakup.

But just as she begins to find joy again, Hideaki reappears, forcing Takako to rely once again on her uncle, whose own life has begun to unravel. Together, these seeming opposites work to understand each other and themselves as they continue to share the wisdom they've gained in the bookshop.