Tsukasa, a fiercely independent youth who lost his parents at an early age and now spends his days working at a Chinese restaurant to make ends meet. Reluctant to form interpersonal ties lest they be shattered, Tsukasa is nonetheless unable to abandon the illegal immigrant girl he finds collapsed in the alley behind his workplace one day. Confronted by her utter helplessness he takes her in, an encounter that opens the door to a new life - one where he faces the challenge and wonder of being no longer alone. Tsukasa soon finds himself at the unwilling nexus of even more lives, attracting a band of misfits and social outcasts around him that swell beyond the confines of his small apartment. They find shelter in an abandoned house, where despite Tsukasa's lingering doubts a pact is formed: the "family project", an alliance of mutual convenience and utilitarian support that despite the mistrust and antagonism among its members soon comes to mean much more.