A family of small-time crooks take in a child they find outside in the cold.

The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their teenage daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.

A blind traveling musician is abused and oppressed while she tours the country, even though the modern world imposes changes on people's behavior.