Shuichi Kushimori is a 17 year old high school student who lives happily with his mother and stepsister. One day, without warning, his estranged stepfather returns home from a long absence. He quickly falls into a circle of drinking and starts abusing his ex-wife and daughter. When he begins making sexual advances towards Shuichi’s stepsister, Shuichi is compelled to take matters into his own hands.

One of the hottest selling tickets in town is to see the hugely popular “rakugoka”, or comic storyteller, Danshun. Danshun himself was inspired as a little boy to become a rakugoka after seeing the legendary Danshi. He had found his calling. After his resistant parents relented to their son’s pleas, Danshun at age 17 became an apprentice of Danshi, the man dubbed a “wunderkind” and “genius” of the rakugo world. He soon realized however how hard the training was, and embarked upon a rigorous existence in which he had to deliver newspapers to earn a living. Living with hardship and joys, Danshun and his fellow apprentices would eventually rise in the rakugo world. A resplendent cast comes together to depict the rough and tumble world of a man who loved rakugo above all else and was destined to fulfill a dream.