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Former piano prodigy Kōsei Arima, softball player Tsubaki Sawabe and soccer player Ryōta Watari are childhood friends who attend the same junior high school. Tsubaki believes the world to be colorful when one is in love, while Kōsei views the world as monotone ever since the death of his mother Saki Arima two years ago. Tsubaki invites Kōsei on a double date, as Ryōta will be introduced to a girl who has a crush on him. Kōsei explains that he used to be a pianist to fulfill Saki's dream up until her death, yet he still clings to the piano because that is all he has left. The next day, Kōsei is the first to arrive at the park. He sees a girl playing a melodica, and three children join her in harmonious playing to attract pigeons. After making a bad first impression involving an accidental upskirt, he realizes that she is actually Ryōta's date when Tsubaki and Ryōta arrive. The girl is revealed to be a violinist named Kaori Miyazono, who is getting ready to perform in a concert hall.

Kōsei, Kaori, Tsubaki and Ryōta make it to the concert hall, where the second annual junior high division violin competition is being held, ten minutes before it begins. When Kōsei, Tsubaki and Ryōta enter the auditorium, Kōsei breathes in the nostalgic scent, and some people recognize him as a former piano prodigy. As the first round of the preliminaries starts, each contestant plays the same set piece with a piano accompanist. Kaori is the fourth contestant to come onto the stage and play the set piece, but she plays it in a unique manner, wowing the audience. After the competition, Kōsei observes from the sidelines as Kaori runs towards Ryōta, almost like a scene from a romance movie. Because of this, Kōsei feels like he is playing the role of "Friend A", pondering his newfound mixed emotions for Kaori. The next day, since Ryōta has soccer practice after school, Kaori offers Kōsei to stand in for Ryōta in the meantime.

When Kōsei and Kaori go to the café, they notice an upright piano, in which Kaori orders Kōsei to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". The sound soon resonates around the café as he begins to play a variation of the melody, but he abruptly stops and leaves in the middle of his performance. Kaori finds Kōsei at a park, where he reveals that he begins to lose his ability to hear the sound of the piano once he starts to concentrate, as if the flower petals are pulled upward and caught in the spring wind. Since Kaori was nominated by the audience to advance to the second round of the preliminaries, she tells him to get over his so-called curse and embrace his talent, appointing him as her new piano accompanist. Kōsei later tries to evade Tsubaki and Kaori, who post the chosen set piece all over school and home. Kaori eventually finds Kōsei on the school roof, and he continues to refuse her request. She reaches out to him after persistent begging, and he finally agrees.

Kōsei, Kaori, Tsubaki and Ryōta rush to the concert hall on bikes, making it on time before the second round of the preliminaries begins. In the hallway of the venue, Kaori headbutts Kōsei to calm down his nerves and tells him not to worry, all before they are called up on stage and begin their musical journey together. Although they start off the set piece slowly and quietly, the tempo increases and the playing style intensifies. Kōsei begins to feel trapped at the bottom of an ocean, unable to hear the sound of the piano. His accompaniment eventually spins out of control, and he suddenly stops playing, stirring confusion from the audience. Kaori continues playing for a while, but she stops as well and says to him to do it again. She resumes playing the set piece, and he gains the confidence to start accompanying again, as he draws out his fears. As they finish performing, they get a standing ovation from the audience, but Kaori faints on the stage soon after.

Kaori reveals that she not only recorded Kōsei poorly practicing a set piece for the upcoming piano competition, but she also already submitted his entry of participation, much to his shock. However, she encourages him to imagine how he wants to play this piece. Tsubaki realizes how close Kōsei and Kaori are becoming and feels left out, so she contacts Saitō and asks him to be her boyfriend. After Kaori coaches Kōsei through the set piece, they witness Tsubaki playing in the softball regional tournament. While running around the bases, Tsubaki breaks focus and injures her foot before sliding into the home plate, costing her team the game. As Tsubaki suffers from this devastating incident, Kōsei gives her a piggyback ride on their way home.

It is shown that Takeshi declined an invitation to an international piano competition because he believes that Kōsei will finally arise after an absence of two years. As Takeshi plays his set piece on stage, it is recalled that he worked tenaciously to improve his musical talent due to his aspiration to play like Kōsei. Takeshi receives a thunderous applause from the audience after he finishes his performance, and his hands shiver once he leaves the stage. After an intermission of fifteen minutes, Emi walks onto the stage to perform her set piece. Emi also vowed to become better at the piano after being in awe of Kōsei, but she lost her motivation to play when Kōsei vanished from the scene, unable to live up to her potential in her musical talent. Since Kōsei is finally back, she gives the performance of her life, expressing her emotions of anger and loneliness as she lets the music ring from within her. The audience gives a huge applause following her performance.

A flashback explains that Emi threw away all of her ambitions in order to learn how to play the piano, after hearing Kōsei perform for the first time. After a resonating performance, Emi heads backstage to the hallway and attempts to confront Kōsei, but she finds herself bereft of words and just walks away. After another intermission of fifteen minutes, Kōsei comes onto the stage to play his set piece. As Kōsei approaches the piano and plays the set piece, he confronts his past. He first wanted to win every piano competition, believing that would cure Saki from her terminal illness. However, he wished for her to die since he could no longer handle her strict manner and abusive attitude, later feeling regretful for what he said after she died. That feeling comes back to haunt him as he feels trapped in an ocean again, not being able to hear the notes anymore.

Kōsei begins to fall apart in his performance, drawing buzz from the audience. He feels trapped in his mother's shadow, unable to escape from his trauma. He stops midway through, looking at Kaori in the audience and wondering why she played again during her performance before. This motivates him to keep playing, discreetly dedicating this set piece to Kaori. The music sounds differently this time, as if the stars are shining brightly in the night sky. He feels somehow connected to Kaori, sharing the same scenery of spring in a way, since it is because of her that gave him the ability to play again. When he finishes performing, the audience sit in silent awe before giving a scattered applause.

Kōsei disagrees with the set piece that Kaori has chosen for the gala concert. Hiroko wants Kōsei to focus on being a pianist and to not focus so much on his dead mother. At night, Kōsei and Kaori sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" before arriving at Kaori's house, where her parents work in a family-owned pastry shop. The next day, Kōsei and Kaori struggle to be in sync during their practice. To relax a bit, Kōsei, Kaori, Tsubaki, Ryōta and Nao play with fireworks by the school swimming pool. Tsubaki accidentally pushes Kōsei in the swimming pool, where Kōsei recalls Hiroko telling him to hear the music from his heart and not from his ears. He wakes up to his friends, in which Ryōta saved him from drowning. On the day of the gala concert, Kōsei worries when Kaori has not arrived yet.

Since Kaori is a no-show, Kōsei takes the stage alone, much to the audience's surprise. Kōsei plays a piano transcription of the set piece, which was originally composed for violin and piano. Following Hiroko's advice, Kōsei plays with a gentle touch, hearing the notes through his heart and not through his ears. As he uses this opportunity to prove himself as a pianist, he internally comes to terms with memories of and connection to Saki. Once he finishes, he hears a light applause, and the ghost of Saki no longer haunts him. He walks into the hallway and cries on Hiroko's shoulder, finally happy to let go of his sorrowful remorse. After seeing Kōsei with a smile on his face, Tsubaki begins to have tears, but she is torn between relief and regret.

Tsubaki cannot hide her feelings of confusion since Kōsei plans to move away. After Saitō later breaks up with Tsubaki, she tells Kōsei as he plays the piano to comfort her. Tsubaki is frustrated as she sees her friends moving forward, afraid that she might be left behind. She believes Kōsei to be a liar when he said that he would stay by her side. As Kōsei hesitates to visit Kaori in the hospital, he encounters a girl, who falls on top of him from a tree, and he takes her to see Hiroko. The girl is Nagi Aiza, an aspiring pianist and Takeshi's younger sister. She performs a little bit on the piano, and Hiroko agrees to be her piano teacher. Kōsei attempts to visit Kaori again, but he hears Ryōta from outside her room. Kaori calls Kōsei on the phone and tells him to bring some canelés for her the next day. As Kaori later walks weakly in the hospital hallway, she is unable to stand up after falling on the floor.

Kōsei and Nagi perform a set piece written for piano four hands. During the performance, Kōsei competes with Nagi to see if she can keep up with him. As Nagi believes that she understands Kōsei on a deeper level, this pushes her to perform with all her heart. After they end their set piece, the audience is blown away with their performance. While backstage, Kōsei is confronted by Takeshi, who is jealous that Kōsei teamed up with Nagi (Takeshi's younger sister). Takeshi demands Kōsei the chance to beat him in an upcoming piano competition. Kōsei visits Kaori on the roof of the hospital to find her passion for music has reawakened, having listened to Kōsei and Nagi's performance from her phone. Kōsei challenges Kaori to perform one more duet with him.

At the hospital, Kaori opts for a risky surgery all for the sake of having the chance to perform with Kōsei one more time. Kōsei meets with Kaori's parents, and they all watch as Kaori is undergoing rehabilitation. At the school library, Nao tells Tsubaki that Kōsei has been practicing nonstop for the upcoming piano competition. Tsubaki later hides her feelings of jealousy towards Kaori while giving Kōsei a haircut. On the day of the piano competition, Kōsei shares an egg sandwich with Emi and Takeshi, bringing them on good terms with him. Takeshi takes the stage and plays his set piece, as he contemplates his former rivalry with Kōsei, always wanting to be the better one. After his performance, Takeshi realizes that Kōsei is more like his hero in a way.