Komura, an early-thirties salesman living in Tokyo, comes home from work five days after the quake to find that his wife of five years has left him. She leaves a note saying that living with him is like living with a "chunk of air" and that other women would be lucky to be with him down the road. About a week later, he takes a week-long leave of absence. Before he leaves work that day, his friend Sasaki asks him if he would like to take an all-expenses-paid trip to Kushiro to deliver a small package to Sasaki's sister Keiko; he says yes.