14-year-old Shizuko dreams of drawing manga in Tokyo to escape her life of poverty and loneliness. Shizuko’s father has left the family, and her mother — who is desperate for money — takes in an icy, brutal lover who insists on being called Father. He is obsessed with having a high-class family and forbids Shizuko to draw her low-class manga, which he calls trash. When Father discovers that Shizuko has been impregnated by a schoolmate, he inflicts a brutal punishment. Her mother, unable to support the family without him, responds with drunken apathy. In self-defense, Shizuko’s creates manga characters who are gentle and caring.