In a small rural town, a young Japanese girl named Yoneko Hosoume envies her Christian cousins. She reflects on a day two years ago, when she and her three-year-old brother Seigo attended their cousins’ church, but Seigo embarrassed both of them. In the present day, Yoneko’s father hires Marpo, a twenty-seven-year old Filipino man, despite his belief that Filipinos are “indolent.” Marpo is remarkably talented—an athlete, a musician, an artist, and a radio technician—and he and Yoneko become unlikely friends. They discuss religion, and Yoneko asks silly but honest questions about God and Jesus. One day, an earthquake strikes near the Hosoume home. Marpo recovers the family’s belongings from the house, and Yoneko prays to God to end the earthquake but decides that God must not exist because nothing happens. The earthquake continues. In the aftermath, Mr. and Mrs. Hosoume are very grateful to Marpo, who continues to be a great help to the family. When Mr. Hosoume remarks that Yoneko looks like a Filipino when she begins painting her nails, however, he and Mrs. Hosoume begin to fight, and he slaps her across the face. Marpo defends Mrs. Hosoume and is fired. Mr. and Mrs. Hosoume soon visit the hospital for an undisclosed reason, and Seigo mysteriously dies soon after, at age five. Mrs. Hosoume turns to Christianity for comfort and tells Yoneko to never kill a person, or God will take someone away from her in return. Yoneko proclaims that she no longer believes in God.