Haru is 15 years old when her father, a handwriting teacher and a strict man, sends her to an archery dojo, a request made by her mother on her deathbed. She agrees against her will and does not understand her mother's decision. She does not even have time to miss her, seeing as she has to grab a few belongings and hurry to the dojo. There she will meet three teachers and seven pupils. She will spend quite a few years in a continual inner struggle between acceptance by the teachers and missing home. When the lessons have finished, the pupils leave the protective dojo and have to face modern life. Haru starts work as an apprentice to an old man who calls himself a master shoemaker. She spends a few more years there but in the end, the emptiness and the lack of contact with her father weigh heavily and her life goes off the rails. Haru's life will only make sense when she realizes that in order to leave home, first you must return...and forgive yourself.