A man is immobile and incapacitated, but has professional and nonprofessional volunteers serve and help him. Though, he takes full advantage of the situation and uses and abuses the volunteer crew.

Four strangers (a verbose romantic, a human lie detector, an expert pickpocket, and a woman with a preternaturally precise sense of time) are brought together by chance when they inadvertently team up to thwart a bank robbery. Recognizing the potential of their combined talents, they decide to form a bank-robbing gang themselves, just for the fun and romance of it. Their heists are played out swiftly and coolly, less like robberies than performance art. Eventually, the foursome's good-natured crime streak is interrupted when a man from one of their pasts creates a whirlwind of extortion and double crossing.

Aiko Satō, who has won many literary awards, retired from her life as a writer and had no guests. She spent a gloomy time, but then a middle-aged editor named Tachibana came with a commission for a story. The story begins with a series of essays that are initially unpleasant, writing out her anger towards society. Aiko's life will undergo significant changes by the time she is 90 years old.