No Ogawa, a young Japanese man, loves American western movies. What little English he does know he learned from these movies. When he is fired from his latest job at a fast food restaurant, he decides to become a cowboy. In his youth, he had a same-aged pen-pal named Kate Beatty, who he plans on visiting in the Canadian prairies specifically because she told him she was a cowgirl. No has plans literally and figuratively of riding off into the sunset with Kate. No's dreams are dashed when he arrives in Canada and finds that Kate is not a cowgirl, but an artist. She recently returned to her hometown after living in the big city, and has since led a relatively reclusive life with no husband on the horizon. As such, Kate's mother, with whom Kate does not confide, is hoping that Kate and No do end up together. He is even staying with her while in town. But Kate is harboring a secret, the reason for her being so reclusive. Her secret is not so secret, at least to her mother.