In 2008, the unnamed narrator of ‘Gifted’ is working as a hostess and living in Tokyo’s nightlife district. One day, her estranged mother, who is seriously ill, suddenly turns up at her door. As the mother approaches the end of her life, the two women must navigate their strained relationship, while the narrator also reckons with events happening in her own life, including the death of a close friend – all under the bright lights of Tokyo’s ‘sleepless town’, Kabukicho.