A bedraggled middle-aged man with a conspicuous bandage on his forehead accosts strangers outside a station, offering them paid work. Nobody stops to ask for details, but if they did, they would learn that this is no ordinary get-rich-quick scam. Shoji Tanigawa (Kiyobumi Kaneko) is looking to end his life — and he needs some assistance.

Wherever rock bottom is, Shoji has long since passed it. His wife and son are both dead, his appliance store has gone belly-up and he’s mired in alcoholism and debt. Now he wants to end it all, so his teenage daughter can claim a ¥50 million life insurance payout. However, that rules out suicide, so he goes in search of someone who can help him engineer an “accidental” demise.

When his first attempt doesn’t go to plan, he heads to an online suicide forum, which is how he meets Saki (the single-named Nahana). She’s returned to her hometown after a failed singing career in Tokyo and is struggling financially, making Shoji’s proposed ¥5 million fee attractive. He quickly recognizes her as a kindred spirit, albeit one who isn’t so far along the downward spiral; when he declares that “choosing how to die is the last freedom a man has,” she doesn’t roll her eyes, though some viewers may not be so forgiving.