Content Warning: This section features mental health issues, including depression and emotional distress.

When Tsukuru Tazaki was 20 years old, he was obsessed with dying for about six months. Tsukuru fell into this despair after his four high school friends dropped him from their tight-knit group without a real explanation. No longer being part of the friend group caused Tsukuru feel lonely and isolated.

The group originally became close friends while they were all volunteering at an after-school tutoring program. Because they were the only five who chose this program, they all looked at their friendship as a fateful convergence. Everyone in the group aside from Tsukuru has a color in their name: Two young men named Akamatsu or Aka (red pine) and Oumi or Ao (blue sea), and two young women named Shirane or Shiro (white root) and Kurono or Kuro (black field). The narrator describes the traits of each character. We also learn more about Tsukuru, who is very even-tempered and uninterested in everything except train stations.

The narrative shifts to the present. Tsukuru has a date with a woman named Sara. In his interactions with Sara, Tsukuru’s personality traits rise to the surface.