A kid failing his life finds a kitten that only he can understand, except he actually can't, she's speaking human words in her own mind while the entire world hears only meows. The gap between what Chibi-neko believes is happening and what's actually real becomes the whole story. This is a 1984 film that trusts you to sit with the loneliness of two misfits building a private language nobody else will ever hear, and it never asks you to feel better about it.

Tokio, an 18-year-old who has grown withdrawn after failing his university entrance exams, takes in Chibi-neko, a two-month-old kitten abandoned by her former owners. His mother is allergic to cats and deeply afraid of them, but she lets him keep the kitten out of worry for her son. Chibi-neko sees herself as a small human who talks in words, though people only hear her meow, and she believes every human was once a kitten. She soon falls in love with Tokio. A stray cat then tells her of Cottonland, a paradise where dreams come true. The film blends drama and fantasy.