"One Million Yen Girl" addresses the problems of these university graduates, such as Suzuko Sato (Yû Aoi), a young graduate from a not-so-good university, who can't find a job although she always scored high grades at school.

Suzuko wants to start a life on her own, but her family doesn't approve as long as she doesn't have a decent job. So far, she has been taking small jobs to earn money, such as waitress and ice cream vending.

Soon, the young woman meets someone like her. They waitressing get along pretty well, and Suzuko comes up with the plan to move out to live with her. Though her parents strongly oppose, she defies their wishes and takes her own path anyway.

When the two roommates have a violent quarrel about whether to have a cat, however, Suzuko ends up with a criminal record because her friend played a nasty trick on her with the police.

Now it is even more impossible for the young graduate to find a decent job, and when she returns to her parents' place, she isn't much welcomed. Suzuko then decides to leave again.

She swears that she will work until she has one million yen, and then move on to the next place, but as she is completing her plan, she keeps on spending the money that she earns on the advice of her new lover.