After years of training at renowned establishments across Japan, the young chef Ihashi Satoru has reached a crossroads. Having worked his way through the kitchens of Tokyo's Fujimura, Sakura, and Kappou Iizuka, as well as the Kyoto restaurant Santaka, he now serves as the hired manager of Rakuan, a small Kagurazaka eatery. But even with this accomplishment, Ihashi feels a persistent hunger for more. Encouraged by a trusted food critic and the owner of Rakuan, he decides that the only way to deepen his understanding of Japanese cuisine is to travel the country and experience its regional food cultures firsthand. He takes on the role of a love-and-food deliveryman, promising to send back the best local ingredients and dishes he discovers for Rakuan's menu. His journey begins in Kanazawa, the largest city in the Hokuriku region, where he reunites with a former junior colleague and lends a hand at that colleague's family-run restaurant, the long-established Setsugetsuro. Working there as a kitchen assistant, Ihashi immerses himself in the flavors of the region, learning how geography, tradition, and local pride shape the food of Ishikawa, Toyama, and Fukui. After completing his Hokuriku exploration, he returns to Tokyo but quickly sets out again, this time drawn to the rich agricultural and seafood bounty of Chiba Prefecture. From there, his travels expand into other parts of eastern Japan, and he eventually turns his attention inward, examining the home-region cooking of his own staff at Rakuan, each of whom comes from a different prefecture. Through every stop, Ihashi's restless pursuit of taste deepens his appreciation for how local identity, craftsmanship, and seasonality define Japanese cuisine, pushing him to reconsider what kind of chef he wants to become and what direction his career should take next.