25-year-old Takako has lived a relatively easy life. Born and raised on the southern island of Kyushu, she went to a good university and got a graduate job at a company in Tokyo where she met her charming boyfriend, Kashikoi. However, when Kashikoi casually announces that he’s been cheating on her and is planning to marry somebody else, Takako’s life is suddenly in freefall. She loses her job and with it all of her friends and acquaintances. She ends up in a deep depression but just as her despair seems to have reached a new low, she receives a call from her distant uncle.
Her uncle, who she refers to as Ojisan, is in his forties and has always lived something of an unconventional life, especially since his wife Momoko left him out of the blue five years ago. He runs a second-hand bookshop in Jimbocho, Tokyo’s famous book district which is home to hundreds of used bookshops, publishing houses and literary societies. Takako used to turn her nose up at Ojisan’s way of life but when he offers her the tiny room above the bookshop rent-free in exchange for helping out at the store, she reluctantly agrees. In the months that follow, Takako surprises herself by discovering a passion for Japanese literature from the “Modern” period (1868–1945), partly thanks to recommendations from Ojisan and the bookshop’s loyal customers. She becomes a regular at a local coffee shop where she befriends a graduate student who is waitressing there part-time, and she also meets a young editor from a nearby publishing house who’s going through his own messy breakup.
Just as Takako is learning how to enjoy life again, Kashikoi gets back in touch which unearths all the negative emotions associated with their relationship. Ojisan notices the decline in Takako’s mood and when she finally tells him the whole story he is horrified at Kashikoi’s behaviour. Ojisan convinces Takako to take a cab to Kashikoi’s apartment at 11pm. They confront him and this gives Takako the closure she needs. Takako is infinitely grateful to Ojisan and her life starts to come back together again: she’s offered a job at a design company and she finds a new apartment.
A year and a half later, Takako has the chance to return the favour and help Ojisan get closure on the mystery that has plagued him for the last five years: why his loving wife Momoko suddenly left him. When Momoko reappears and refuses to explain her absence, Takako senses that Momoko might not be comfortable sharing her reasoning with Ojisan but that she may open up to Takako. Momoko moves into the room above the bookshop and Takako visits often. They form a bond and go on a two-day trip to the Okutama Mountains in far western Tokyo. There, Momoko confesses that she left because Ojisan got so wrapped up in the bookshop that he was oblivious to the emotional turmoil she went through after the birth of their stillborn child. She always wanted children but had to have a hysterectomy. For her, it is all tied up in the guilt surrounding an abortion she had in her twenties.
Takako tells Ojisan. He runs after Momoko, who is leaving again. She says she’ll return one day but he needs to get his own feelings in order before she comes back. When Momoko returns a year later, she and Ojisan enthusiastically embark on the next chapter of running the Morisaki Bookshop together, and Takako has begun to date the editor she met at the coffee shop.
