Tamako Godai is a well-behaved, pretty 14-year-old who's aware her whole life is now ahead of her and of her own making. A loner and a dreamer, she's impatiently awaiting the exit from jail of her grandfather, Kenzo, who she's only recently discovered was locked up 13 years ago for killing a yakuza. Also awaiting his arrival is her father, and Kenzo's son, Kei-ichi, and her mother, Chieko; however, Kenzo's self-possessed wife decides to ankle the house prior to his arrival. Clad in old-style Japanese clothes and sandals, Kenzo turns out to be a genial type, but one not to be messed with. After saving Tamako from being harassed by young punks, word soon spreads at her school that her grandpa's a "murderer" -- which further isolates her. However, when Tamako stands up to female bullies at school, she finds she has a surprising reserve of anger buried inside her, and starts to think she inherited it from Kenzo.