The ragtag unit of the Shibata family live on the edge of society, and each day is a struggle just to make ends meet. Those old enough to hold a job do their share to pitch in, and others, like young Shota (Jyo Kairi), do their part by going out on shoplifting runs (the father and son share an adorable fist bump and perform other cute hand gestures to communicate with one another before stealing anything). In addition to their petty crime and menial incomes, the Shibata’s are also mostly getting by — barely — on Hatsue’s (the family’s grandmother figure played by Kirin Kiki) dead husband’s pension.

However, as circumstances become more dire — Osamu breaks his ankle and cannot work, and Nobuyo, Osamu’s wife, gets laid off, amongst other things — the family is slowly forced into turmoil. They also have the added struggle of one more mouth to feed by taking in the abused Yuri (the adorable Miyu Sasaki), who is given a new haircut and name; she quickly bonds with the misfit group and is taught to steal like Osamu and Shota. Living in the cramped quarters of Hatsue’s sardine-can home, the family unit’s struggle is never one filled with outright misery or unhappiness; blood or not, their love for one another shines through their misfortune — one of the many arresting qualities about this casually affecting gem — which fills their household with laughter and happiness.