Koyuki Tanaka is in a dead end. At age 14, he has lost his passion for life. But a casual meeting of Koyuki with a young musician named Ryusuke is about to open a new path in front of him.

When Koyuki accepts Ryusuke's invitation to see his band perform live, he unwittingly sets down a path of self-discovery. But what Koyuki finds both disturbs and intrigues him, as the youngster uncovers the best and worst aspects of human nature. And though his world begins to expand, self-doubt and uncertainty threaten to send it collapsing in on itself.

Koyuki hangs out with Ryusuke and finds out more about music, and meets his sister, Maho, who later takes Koyuki to see Beck, her brother's dog.

While Koyuki takes his first tentative steps toward learning guitar, Maho suggests that he'd be the perfect lead vocalist for Ryusuke's new band. But an accident threatens to shatter Ryusuke and Koyuki's friendship forever, as well as putting an end to Koyuki's musical aspirations-until help comes from a very unexpected source.

Koyuki tries to memorize the scales at Saitou's place. Later we can see Koyuki talking with the bullies and then scolded in the teacher's office. Maho meets with him, and at Saitou's place, Koyuki tells her why he started to work for the old man. This marks the first appearance of Ryusuke's guitar, "Prudence" ("Lucille" in the Japanese original), notable for the several bullet holes it bears.

After the band seems to break up before their time on the third stage, the band is slowly reforming just in time to play their hearts out for the growing crowd. Ryuusuke has returned after being given Prudence to play on and Chiba races back to the third stage after thwarting his kidnappers. Meanwhile, the worsening weather forces interruptions at the other two stages, frustrating Eiji and angering Sykes.