Hiroshi Tanaka is a 35-year-old construction worker with a distinctive afro hairstyle, a modest annual income of around 3.5 million yen, and a growing family living in a rented apartment in Adachi, Tokyo. He shares the apartment with his wife Nanako, 32, and their young daughter Emma. When the lease renewal notice arrives, Nanako proposes they finally buy a house of their own. Tanaka, who had been vaguely aware of the idea but never seriously considered it, is forced to confront the daunting realities of the Japanese housing market. High land prices, intimidating mortgage rates, and the specter of a 35-year loan send him into a spiral of comic frustration. His blunt, self-defeating reaction to the prospect sums up his predicament: he tells Nanako that if she wants a newly built detached home, she must have married the wrong man.

The narrative follows Tanaka and his family as they navigate the messy, stressful, and often absurd process of becoming homeowners. After visiting model homes and struggling with budget calculations, the family eventually relocates to the Urawa area of Saitama Prefecture, chosen for its quality of life and the educational opportunities it offers their daughter. Life in the new neighborhood brings its own set of challenges: Tanaka must deal with the competitive pressure of kindergarten admissions for Emma, wrestle with unfamiliar financial products like group credit life insurance, and adjust to the routines of suburban family life. The comedy arises from the gap between Tanaka's lazy, perpetually frustrated inner self and the adult responsibilities that keep piling up. He grumbles, schemes, and occasionally panics, but his underlying affection for his wife and daughter drives him forward.

The main characters anchor the story in recognizable domestic situations. Tanaka is a fundamentally good-natured but unmotivated everyman, prone to complaining and self-pity but capable of surprising moments of seriousness when his family needs him. Nanako is the practical, clear-headed partner who initiates the home-buying project and keeps Tanaka grounded with her blunt honesty. Their daughter Emma grows from a toddler into a preschooler over the course of the series, and her milestones—learning to ride a bicycle, starting toilet training, beginning kindergarten—provide natural material for both comedy and emotional warmth. Old friends from earlier chapters of Tanaka's life, including his bachelor buddies, occasionally appear to offer bad advice or serve as foils to his domesticated existence.

Notable narrative arcs include the family's move from Adachi to Urawa and the ensuing kindergarten search, which touches on real anxieties about schooling and social status. Another significant thread involves Tanaka learning about group credit life insurance, a perk that would cancel the remaining mortgage balance if he dies, forcing him to confront his own mortality in characteristically reluctant fashion. The fourth volume focuses on the strains of married life after four years, as the couple struggles to carve out private time together amid parenting and work obligations. In the fifth volume, Emma turns four and takes on the challenge of riding a bike without training wheels, while Tanaka faces a major career decision that could take him to the Philippines, raising difficult questions about balancing earning potential with time spent at home. Through all these episodes, the series maintains an episodic, slice-of-life structure, using Tanaka's perpetual exasperation and his family's warmth to generate a steady stream of relatable, self-deprecating comedy.