故事发生在1995年1月17日凌晨。当人们还沉浸在睡梦中时，一场灾难突袭而来，一场强度高达六级的地震把日本的神户一带变成了废墟。地震使人们流离失所，随之而来的大伙更使死伤者人数具增，曾经繁荣祥和的城市转眼之间化作了废墟残垣。鹰取商店街九百九十五栋房屋也没有逃过此次劫难，在这条街上的古市忠夫（赤井英和饰）家的相机商店也化作了灰烬，但幸运的是他们一家人都完好无恙，生存了下来。

Hanako is a mother, who was not enthusiastic when her husband took in two foster children some years ago. He died not long afterward, leaving her alone to care for the youngsters, Koya and Torataro, a task that she rose to with a passion. As the two boys graduate from high school, Hanako has become not only a devoted parent but the neighborhood's most reliable mother in the Osaka style: strong, responsible, irreverent. After the two boys leave school they also leave home, though Torataro continues to work in the family factory. Koya secures employment at a restaurant, where he is forced to put up with the bullying of an older colleague. Unable to take it any more, he runs away, and Hanako and Torataro look for him. They eventually find him pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician.