April 1954. 12 year old schoolgirl Sadako thinks her main problem is being unable to pass the baton in relay races. But just as her team starts winning, she starts getting tired more easily. She is sent back to the American Base Victory Hospital, where the diagnosis is lymphatic leukemia. And she has no more than a year left to live. Her parents agree with the doctor that Sadako should not be told, but will she find out anyway ?
Scamper is a little penguin who loves wandering around the Artic where he lives with his parents. Unfortunately his little adventures tend to get he, and his friend Snowflake into trouble, especially when he disobeys his father and goes exploring with seagulls who want to eat him flying above, and men and dogs on the ground with them. One day the adventure goes too far and they float out to sea, only to be caught by men who want to sell them to the zoo. Scamper, Snowflake and their new friend, a macaroni penguin named Louie, must escape and get back to their families to warn them.
Ayako is a 7-year-old girl with a dark, tanned face and a somewhat mysterious expression on her face. She shows up at the elementary school and acts strangely, but the children don't know her name and just call her "that girl". There are two groups of children at the elementary school, and the conflict between the groups intensifies...
Tane, a female clerk of a rubber company in a corner of an industrial area facing Tokyo Bay is a quirky woman, also living on the second floor of the company warehouse.