Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

Toru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.

Minamo is a patient at a mental institute who keeps having the same dream. In the dream, there’s a small lake with a big bright moon shinning over it. Minamo sees herself in a boat on the lake. Her eyes are filled with tears of blood, and the boat is sinking slowly into the lake. The moon becomes red and she hears a voice calling her, Kagari… Kagari…

American teenagers connect on the early internet to crusade for their favorite videogame of all time, pitting their fan site against a corporate goliath and their own looming adulthoods.