In 1964, Mineko Yatabe (Kasumi Arimura) was born and then raised at a mountain village in the northwest of Ibaraki Prefecture. She has 7 family members. Her older brother is smart and he is the first person from their village to an university. Her father goes to Tokyo to earn tuition fees for her older brother. Mineko thinks if she graduates from high school, she wants to help her grandfather and mother with farming. Mineko Yatabe's life changes after her father fails to come back.
To find her father and make money, Mineko goes to Tokyo with two of her childhood friends. They begin to work at a factory. After work, Mineko searches for her father. The factory goes bankrupt and Mineko finds that she does not have a place to live. Fortunately, Mineko finds work at a western restaurant that her father mentioned that tasted great. She begins to feel like like part of a family with the restaurant owner and other employees. Can Mineko find her father?
Main character
Kasumi Arimura as Mineko Yatabe
Yatabe family
Ikkō Furuya as Shigeru Yatabe, Mineko's grandfather
Ikki Sawamura as Minoru Yatabe, Mineko's father
Yoshino Kimura as Miyoko Yatabe, Mineko's mother
Kazu Miyahara as Chiyoko Yatabe, Mineko's sister
Rai Takahashi as Susumu Yatabe, Mineko's brother
Kazunobu Mineta as Muneo Koiwai, Mineko's uncle
Shizuyo Yamasaki as Shigeko Koiwai, Muneo's wife and Mineko's aunt
Sukegawa family
Yui Sakuma as Tokiko Sukegawa, Mineko's childhood friend and classmate
Michiko Hada as Kimiko Sukegawa, Tokiko's mother
Toshiya Tōyama as Shōji Sukegawa, Tokiko's father
Kento Shibuya as Toyosaku Sukegawa, Tokiko's brother
Sumitani family
Yūki Izumisawa as Mitsuo Sumitani, Mineko's childhood friend and classmate
Rie Shibata as Kiyo Sumitani, Mitsuo's mother
Shinji Asakura as Masao Sumitani, Mitsuo's father
Hiroyuki Onoue as Tarō Sumitani, Mitsuo's brother
Others
Satoru Matsuo as Jirō Mashiko, a school bus conductor
Kanji Tsuda as Manabu Tagami, a high school teacher
