Plot
An elementary school student named Shōya Ishida and his friends bully Shōko Nishimiya, a transfer student who was born deaf. When word of the bullying reaches the principal, Shōya is framed as the sole perpetrator by his friends. Shōya blames Shōko when she tries to help him and they get into a physical altercation, the latter being subsequently transferred to another school with Shōya keeping her notebook.
His reputation as a bully following him through middle school, Shōya becomes a depressed loner in high school who eventually believes suicide is his only absolution. But he decides to first to make amends with those he has wronged before ending his life. Shōya reconciles with Shōko when returning her notebook at the sign language center she is attending, realizing she is still lonely due to her shyness. At that time, he is also befriended by Tomohiro Nagatsuka, a similar friendless classmate who feels indebted to Shōya for saving him from a bully.
Shōya would try to meet up with Shōko to help her feed koi in the river much to the ire of her younger sister Yuzuru, who takes advantage of Shōya illegally jumping into the river to retrieve Shōko’s notebook to take a photo of the incident and post it online to have him suspended from school. When Yuzuru runs away from home, Shōya offers to let her stay at his house, and the two reconcile.
Shōya helps Shōko reconnect with Miyoko Sahara, a kind classmate who genuinely befriended Shōko and is currently in the same school as Naoka Ueno, who also bullied Shōko and weasels back into Shōya’s life. Shōko also meets Miki Kawai, her elementary school class president who now attends the same school as Shōya and is in a relationship with Satoshi Mashiba. Shōko later gives Shōya a gift and verbally confesses her feelings for him, but runs off upset when Shōya mishears her. Shōya invites Shōko to an amusement park with Tomohiro, Miyoko, Miki, and Satoshi. They are joined by Naoka, who is infatuated with Shōya while trying to reconnect him with their old friends.
Naoka also bears a grudge on Shōko for Shōya’s misfortune, Yuzuru secretly recording the encounter for Shōya to see. This leads to the group having a falling out when Miki exposes Shōya’s past to the others in desperation to remain blameless in Shōko’s bullying while Shōya isolates himself from everyone but the Nishimiyas. After Shōko and Yuzuru’s grandmother passes away, Shōya takes them to the countryside to cheer them up, where he realizes that Shōko blames herself for everything that has happened to him. Shōya decides to devote his entire social life to the sisters.
During a fireworks festival, Shōko leaves early, ostensibly to finish her homework. Shōya follows her to retrieve Yuzuru’s camera, finding Shōko preparing to jump from her balcony. Shōya manages to stop her, only to fall into the river below. He is rescued by his former friends, but is rendered comatose.
One night, Shōko dreams about receiving a farewell visit from Shōya. Shōya awakens from his coma and makes his way to the bridge, where he finds Shōko weeping. He apologizes for bullying her and tells her not to blame herself for how his life has turned out. He also admits his original plan to commit suicide, but has decided against it while asking Shōko to help him keep living, to which she agrees.
When Shōya returns to school, he reunites with his friends and realizes how much they still care for him. As they all go to the school festival together, Shōya tears up, realizing he has finally redeemed himself as he stopped ignoring everyone around him.
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