Araki is a veteran editor for the dictionary department at the Genbu Shobō publishing company. He is looking for a successor now that he's approaching retirement age. After Majime Mitsuya — a salesman who's a poor talker — meets Masashi Nishioka — Araki's coworker who is sociable and frivolous — Araki overhears their conversation and decides to recruit Majime into the department. The "odd couple" work together to compile a medium-sized Japanese dictionary titled "The Great Passage" (Daitokai).