In the live-action television series Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Satoru Fujinuma is a 29-year-old struggling manga artist living in Chiba who works a part-time job delivering pizzas. Unbeknownst to those around him, Satoru possesses an involuntary supernatural ability he calls Revival, which sends his consciousness back in time just moments before a life-threatening incident is about to occur, allowing him to prevent the tragedy. This power usually only rewinds time by a few minutes, but after his observant mother, Sachiko, is murdered in their home by an unknown assailant who has framed him for the crime, Satoru experiences a far more powerful Revival. He is hurled back 18 years into the past, landing in the body of his 11-year-old self in 1988, the year a series of mysterious kidnappings and murders terrorized his elementary school classmates in the Hokkaido town of Tomakomai.

Realizing that the key to saving his mother in the present lies in preventing those childhood tragedies, Satoru understands his mission: to identify and stop the serial killer before he claims his young victims. The primary target is his quiet and isolated classmate, Kayo Hinazuki, a girl who lives in fear of her abusive mother, Akemi. Armed with the knowledge of the future, the adult mind of Satoru works alongside his childhood friends, particularly the intelligent and perceptive Kenya Kobayashi, to befriend Kayo and protect her from a fate he knows is coming. He suspects that the killer is a trusted figure in the community, someone who manipulates those around him with a charming facade while harboring a dark obsession. As Satoru alters the past, he builds a web of trust and protection around Kayo and other potential victims, including a kind-hearted boy named Hiromi Sugita. The story unfolds across two timelines, contrasting the desperate race of young Satoru to change history with the dire consequences of the original present, where the adult Satoru is a fugitive relying on the faith of his young coworker, Airi Katagiri, who believes in his innocence.

The central narrative arc follows Satoru’s attempt to prevent Kayo’s death, a mission that brings him into direct conflict with his seemingly kind homeroom teacher, Gaku Yashiro, the true serial killer. As Satoru succeeds in saving Kayo and the other children, his actions create a new future, but not without a tremendous personal cost. In a final confrontation in the past, Yashiro attacks Satoru, leaving him in a coma for 15 years. When Satoru finally awakens as an adult, he finds the world he saved: his mother is alive, and Kayo and his other friends have grown up to live happy, successful lives, though they have moved on without him. The story concludes with a final psychological confrontation on a hospital rooftop, where Satoru must face Yashiro once more, using the trust and bonds he built across both timelines to finally bring the killer to justice and reclaim his own erased life.