A bored accountant spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.
In spring, a girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo. Once there, she is asked to reveal why she wanted to go there in the first place.
A young boy named Guskou lives in the countryside with his parents and little sister. A string of droughts and other natural disasters tear the family apart, and Guskou is forced to leave home and seek his fortunes on his own. Driven by a desire to improve the quality of life of his poor countrymen, he eventually joins a group of scientists called the Ihatov Volcano Department; he takes part in scientific projects to fight the natural disasters that drove him from his home.
