The film moves backward through its own mythology to ask whether loving someone means accepting the version of them that exists, or the version you've decided they should be. Every character is trapped in a diary they've already written, mistaking their own handwriting for destiny. By the end, you realize the Penguindrum was never the prize, it was the cost of learning to let someone go.

The second of two films retelling the Mawaru Penguindrum anime, with new material added. Twin brothers Kanba and Shoma Takakura hunt for the Penguindrum on the orders of a mysterious penguin hat, hoping to save the life of their younger sister Himari. High school girl Ringo Oginome trusts in her own destiny and keeps acting out the events written in her diary, while Masako Natsume tries to take that diary so it can guide her toward a new destiny. A decade after the search began, Kanba and Shoma, who once rode a train that altered their fate, come back briefly from that destined place. The film is a psychological drama with mystery and supernatural elements.