Daisuke works as an assistant manager at a retail branch of NEOS, operator of a supermarket chain. The manager, Sanae, still owns the land on which the outlet is built. She does not see eye to eye with head office in their efforts to increase sales. The chairman of NEOS, Shimazaki, plans to site a large-scale store at a highway interchange near Sanae's store. This spells doom for the small local shops with which Sanae has always cooperated. To complicate matters, Daisuke is moved to head office to assume responsibility for the construction of the new store. This is a story of personal ambition, double-dealing and local politics, set against a background that is universally recognizable as economies the world over change with dizzying speed. |