Shin'ichi Chiaki, a perfectionist pianist and violinist at Momogaoka College of Music, dreams of conducting but cannot study in Europe because he cannot bring himself to fly. His ordered world collides with Megumi Noda, nicknamed Nodame, the free-spirited and spectacularly messy pianist next door who plays entirely by ear. Nodame latches onto Chiaki as her self-declared boyfriend, and her untrained talent forces him to reconsider what musicianship can look like.