Aoi Nishimori and Shūsei Kugayama are in love and they begin to live together secretly. Suddenly, Shūsei's cousin, Reon Kugayama, comes to them. Their secret is discovered by Reon. Now, Aoi, Shūsei, and Reon begin to live together.

Megumi Noda, or "Nodame" is a piano student at Momogaoka College of Music. An extremely talented pianist who wants to be a preschool teacher, she prefers playing by ear rather than reading the music score. She is messy and disorganized. Shinichi Chiaki is Momogaoka's top student. Born into a musical family, he is talented in piano and violin and has secret ambitions to become a conductor. An arrogant multi-lingual perfectionist who once lived abroad in the music capitals of the world as a young boy, he is trapped in Japan because of his childhood phobia of airplanes and the ocean. They meet by accident and sparks fly!