At the beginning of the novella, Mikage, a young woman whose grandmother has recently died, explains her love for kitchens. With the last remaining family member now gone, she finds comfort in the kitchen, particularly next to the humming refrigerator. A few days later, Yuichi Tanabe, a young man who works in the flower shop her grandmother used to frequent, visits Mikage and asks her to have dinner with him and his mother.
When Mikage arrives at Yuichi's apartment, she immediately falls in love with it. She is fascinated by the kitchen, the comfortable sofa, and the bevy of plants. Later that night, she meets Yuichi's mother, Eriko, and is stunned by her beauty. Yuichi is highly amused by her reaction when he reveals that his mother is actually his father, who had a sex-change operation.
Yuichi's mother eventually asks Mikage to stay at their place for a while. Mikage accepts the offer, as the apartment she inherited from her grandmother is too expensive, and she has been planning to move to a new place.
A little later, when Mikage is moving things from her old apartment to Yuichi's place, she gets a phone call from her ex-boyfriend, Sotaro, who wants to meet up with her. He tells her that everyone at the university knows she lives with Yuichi, and that his girlfriend slapped him in public when she found out about it. Mikage, however, does not think that living with Yuichi is such a serious issue. When she later talks to Yuichi about her opinion, he agrees with her.
Mikage then dreams about Yuichi and her cleaning up her old apartment before finally leaving it. In the dream, they sing a love song before Yuichi, who changes into a prince, expresses his craving for ramen. When Mikage wakes up and goes into the kitchen, she runs into Yuichi, who tells her that he came in to have ramen. He also talks about his dream and describes the tiles of Mikage's old kitchen, indicating that both of them had the same dream.
Eventually, Mikage moves out and starts working as an assistant in a cooking school. One day, she gets a call from Yuichi, telling her that his mother has been murdered some time ago. She immediately rushes over and comforts Yuichi, who confesses that he has not been able to tell her earlier because of his grief. He also reveals the circumstances of the murder: Eriko was stabbed in her nightclub by a man who found out that she was formerly biologically male; however, she was still able to beat him to death with a barbell, calling the killing self-defense.
The young people, in their grief, decide to have a magnificent meal together. Yuichi goes out and buys masses of groceries, which Mikage transforms into an array of delicious treats. After the meal, Yuichi, who is rather drunk, asks her to move back in with him. While she does not dismiss the idea entirely, she also refuses to give him a clear answer, as she does not know if she would be his friend or his lover.
The next morning, Mikage is woken up by a phone call. However, the caller hangs up when she answers, so she concludes it must have been a girl. Mikage goes to her job as the assistant for a cooking teacher, a job she loves since she now plans to be a cook herself. While Mikage is working, a young woman named Okuno, Yuichi’s putative girlfriend, shows up and confronts Mikage, telling her to stay away from Yuichi.
Mikage, unsure of her relationship with Yuichi, accepts her boss’s offer to go on a business trip for a few days. Shortly before leaving, however, she gets a call from Chika, one of Eriko's closest friends. The two have lunch together. Chika finds it funny that neither Mikage nor Yuichi realizes that they are in love with each other, even though it is so obvious. She also tells Mikage that Yuichi plans to leave Tokyo for a while to sort out his feelings and gives her the phone number and address of his inn.
During her business trip, Mikage calls Yuichi from an inn. They both complain about the dull food. Mikage orders katsudon at a local restaurant, which turns out to be most delicious. She decides to take a taxi to bring some to Yuichi as well. However, his inn is already closed and silent. With the moonlight guiding her, she climbs up onto the roof and to his window and delivers the food. Yuichi is pleased to see her, though she can tell he is still working through his depression. Before she goes, she tells him that she thinks they should be happy together and hopes he will take time to heal and find her when he is done.
On the last day of her trip, Yuichi calls Mikage. He tells her that he is over his grief and has returned to Tokyo already, looking forward to picking her up at the train station when she comes back.
