In present-day Tokyo, 23-year-old Sawako Kimura (Hikari Mitsushima) is in her fifth part-time job and with her fifth boyfriend since leaving high school. Kenichi Arai (Masashi Endō) is a second-rate designer at the toy company where Sawako works, and has a four-year-old daughter, Kayoko (Kira Aihara). Kenichi keeps pressing Sawako to marry him, but she considers him "only average" (as indeed she considers herself "nothing special"), and on top of that she dislikes children. At the same time, Sawako's uncle, Nobuo (Ryo Iwamatsu) keeps phoning, asking her to return to her hometown, as her father Tadao (Kotaro Shiga) is dying from cirrhosis of the liver and wants her to take over the failing freshwater clam packing company he owns. When Kenichi is fired from his toy-designer job, he persuades the reluctant Sawako to accept the offer to return home, and to take him and Kayoko along into the bargain. The trio arrive in the Pacific coast town of Kawaminami in southern Japan, where Sawako finds herself scorned by the womenfolk for having run away from home five years earlier with her high school tennis club captain, Yoshio (Ryu Morioka). At this point Sawako is forced to decide what she wants to do with the company, Kenichi, Kayoko, and her whole life.
Kim Bong-doo is a young teacher in a Seoul elementary school. He comes to school later than the students, and is scolded by the principal everyday. Instead of preparing lesson plans, he goes drinking at room salons, and he actively encourages and coaxes parents to give him bribe money in exchange for his favoring their children. But one day, he finally gets caught in the act, and becomes the target of parent complaints.
Baseball player-turned-insurance salesman Byung-woo (Ryoo Seung-bum) is seen as the cocky ace of his company until one of his clients commits suicide. The police suspect him of aiding and abetting the suicide, which almost jeopardizes Byung-woo's career. Anxious to ensure it won't happen again, he gets in touch with his previous clients. Particularly those who seem the type to commit suicide.
Chubby high school student and Madonna-devotee Oh Dong-ku is a trans woman living with her abusive, alcoholic father. Dong-ku works part-time to save money for the sex reassignment surgery she craves. Despite being told that she has the perfect physique for ssireum, Dong-ku has no interest in taking up sports — but when she finds out about an upcoming ssireum tournament with a large cash prize going to the winner, she changes her mind and signs up for the team.