Tokyo is currently experiencing rain showers that seem to disrupt the usual pace of everyone living there to no end. Amidst this seemingly eternal downpour arrives the runaway high school student Hodaka Morishima, who struggles to financially support himself—ending up with a job at a small-time publisher. At the same time, the orphaned Hina Amano also strives to find work to sustain herself and her younger brother.

Both fates intertwine when Hodaka attempts to rescue Hina from shady men, deciding to run away together. Subsequently, Hodaka discovers that Hina has a strange yet astounding power: the ability to call out the sun whenever she prays for it. With Tokyo's unusual weather in mind, Hodaka sees the potential of this ability. He suggests that Hina should become a "sunshine girl"—someone who will clear the sky for people when they need it the most.

Things begin looking up for them at first. However, it is common knowledge that power always comes with a hefty price...

Tenki no Ko sold more than 1.1 million tickets, grossing 1.6 billion yen (about US$15.22 million) in its first three days in more than 350 theaters. The film ranked #1 in its opening weekend and is currently the #7 highest-earning domestic film of all time in Japan and the highest-grossing film in Japan in 2019.

Tenki no Ko is also Japan's submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards—the first anime that Japan has submitted in the category since Mononoke Hime in 1998.

It won the prize for Animation of the Year award at the 43rd annual Japan Academy Prize ceremony. It also won the Social Impact Award on the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival.