Alegría "Joy" Rodriguez-Thayer had been many things: a typical American corporate drone, an armchair linguist, a starving musician, and most recently, struggling to make ends meet with a mid-tier non-profit job after being widowed at 40, dreams of world travel stifled and ultimately shattered by a lifetime of missed opportunity.
In another time and place, schoolgirl Izumi Yoshiko looked forward to her Coming of Age Day, having lived her whole life in the rural town of Takasane-machi in the land of Mikata-no-kuni. Being one of the few in her town born pureblooded human, she eagerly awaited the prophecy that she would become host to a "reborn soul".
With their meeting, they set off to go see this great new world and make new friends along the way. The destination doesn't matter: it's about the journey.