Fourth-grader Capeta longs to drive. His father builds him a racing kart from discarded parts, but its bent frame will not run straight. Learning to control an imperfect machine gives Capeta a way into a sport whose equipment is far beyond his family’s means.
The frame turns a first drive into an experiment. Capeta has to work out how his weight and steering affect the kart before he can chase a faster machine. The early races make technique something he discovers through a particular mechanical problem, rather than a talent that makes poor equipment irrelevant.
One of the drivers he approaches on the circuit is junior kart champion Naomi Minamoto. Watching them, Naomi’s mother Nanako encourages Capeta to enter an official race. What begins as a gift from his father becomes an encounter with organised competition, rival families and a new standard against which to measure his driving.