In the countryside village of Asahigaoka, a fifth grade elementary school girl named Hotaru Ichijou moves in from the city and transfers into the village’s branch school, which consists of only four other students; a first grader named Renge Miyauchi and three middle school siblings, Natsumi, Komari and Suguru Koshigaya, along with their teacher, Renge’s older sister Kazuho. After school, Renge invites Hotaru and the others to her house, where she shows off her pet tanuki. The next day, the girls take Hotaru to a blooming cherry blossom tree to eat their sakuramochi, though they end up missing the bus home on the way back.

Ichijou Hotaru is enjoying life with her classmates at her new school. In particular, she has come to think of the diminutive Koshigaya Komari, at less than 140cm, as her “cute Senpai.” This feeling soon grows into absolute adoration. Then, one day, Komari calls Hotaru and invites her to hang out together…

As summer vacation begins, Renge’s older sister Hikage comes home from her school in Tokyo, hoping to impress the others with her know-how about city life only for Hotaru to outshine her. Later, Renge meets another girl her age named Honoka Ishikawa, who she quickly become friends with. After spending several days playing with Honoka, Renge is saddened when she learns Honoka had to suddenly leave due to her father’s work. However, she cheers up a week later after receiving a letter from Honoka saying she’ll come back next summer.

Natsumi gets chewed out by her mother over her poor school grades whilst also trying to hide her poor test results from her. Afterwards, the girls visit Hotaru, who attempts to hide the vast number of handmade Komari plushies in her room. This ultimately fails, but she manages to pass them off as part of a school project. Later that night, the gang have a test of courage at the shrine, which proves a bit too much for Komari.

After sleeping through the New Year, Renge joins Kazuha, Hikage and Kaede as they decide to go up a mountain to watch the first sunrise of the year. Along the way, Kaede recalls five years ago when she was first asked to look after the one-year-old Renge, initially finding her to be quite a handful but soon taking a liking to her. They eventually manage to reach the top of the mountain and watch the sun as it rises.

As Spring arrives again, Hotaru and Komari go on a picnic together, where Hotaru ends up eating Komari’s botched up homemade lunch in order to not hurt her feelings. Later, the girls get together to search for some edible plants, eventually coming to a field of renge flowers where Natsumi makes a costume for Renge.

An OVA bundled with the seventh manga volume.

Suguru wins some tickets to Okinawa in a shopping mall lottery, so the whole gang plan to go on a trip there. To prepare for the trip, the girls practice being on an airplane and go to a convenience store to buy some travel things. Meanwhile, Renge is very thoughtful about how the trip may change her view on the world, spending the evening before the trip giving her farewells to the countryside. The next day, everyone sets off on their flight to Okinawa.

Renge, who is about to start first grade, goes with the others to check out the school before the entrance ceremony, before seeing Hikage off as she goes to Tokyo. The next day, as Renge and the others enjoy the entrance ceremony and begin their first lessons, Hotaru starts moving in.

A few days after transferring in, Hotaru and the others play a game in which they try to knock each other’s rulers off a table. Later, Hotaru gets lost while walking her dog Pechi, but manages to get pointed back towards home thanks to Pechi’s scent. Afterwards, Hotaru goes with Komari to watch the stars together, but run into trouble when their flashlight runs out of battery before they head back. Thanks to a wayward bottle cap Komari dropped, they soon manage to make their way back home.

When Renge receives a bike from her grandma, she’s eager to practice so she can ride everywhere with her friends. But the rainy season is in full swing, so she sets about making a teru-teru bouzu in hopes that the rain will stop. Meanwhile, Renge is on duty to take care of the tadpole shrimp she caught while playing in a field, and she grows very fond of them.

As everyone is cleaning up the school on the last day of the semester, Natsumi and Hotaru end up weeding and watering the garden together. Natsumi realizes she’s never been alone with Hotaru before and tries to come up with things to talk about… Then summer vacation begins and the kids start to work on their summer homework, but quickly grow bored. Hotaru then tells everyone her parents are going to buy some fireworks…

Hotaru is finally getting used to how kids play in the country, although she’s still afraid to jump off the bridge into the river. Hotaru returns home from playing to find a letter from her friend in Tokyo, with a photo of her old friends at an amusement park, making her feel nostalgic. Meanwhile, Hikage is home for a visit and shows off pictures of Tokyo Tower to Renge.

The second semester has begun, and the Asahigaoka students are making wood crafts in class. Renge and Natsumi pair up to make something together, but can’t come up with any ideas. Just when Natsumi starts to panic, Renge demonstrates her unique sensibilities again. Then at lunchtime, the smell of curry fills the air, and the Koshigaya sisters recall a tragedy that befell the school long ago…

Renge goes to visit Natsumi, but she and her family aren’t home. She’s about to give up and leave when a hand starts talking to her from the other side of the fence! She thinks it’s a monster, and is relieved to learn that it’s the next door neighbor Konomi. But Konomi then tells her that she is, in fact, a monster… Later, the Koshigaya sisters tell Renge they were in first grade when they took off their training wheels, so Renge starts to practice riding her bike without the training wheels.

During spring break, Renge and Hotaru head to school to feed the rabbits and end up finding Renge’s Legendary Sword.

An OVA bundled with the tenth manga volume.

On a Winter day, Hotaru has fun creating all kinds of things with the snow, which end up triggering a chain reaction of mishaps for Komari. During Spring, Hotaru goes to the candy store by herself and ends up making cookies with Kaede. On the last day of Summer, the girls use various senses to try and give Komari a pleasant dream. Finally, during the Autumn, the girls go to the woods to collect fruit, where Komari comes up against a flying squirrel.

It’s another idyllic day in the countryside, but things are anything but ordinary when Renge meets Akane, a flutist who has trouble playing in front of other people.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe Hotaru is still in elementary school! But even Hotaru needs to act like a kid now and then… or at least that’s what Konomi thinks.

Ren pays Candy Store a visit to spend her New Year’s allowance, but her purchase puts Candy Store in an awkward position — one Natsumi finds absolutely HILARIOUS.

New Year’s is here, and that means New Year’s money! What will everyone spend their cash on? And is there a way to get even more? Or perhaps that’s not a good idea…

Once the kids are asleep, the adults get to partying! …wait, what’s that noise? Ren is awake!? Uh oh…

Following a graduation ceremony, Renge and friends spend the day playing in the great outdoors. It’s days like these you wish would never end…