Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place during June 1983, at a fictional rural village called Hinamizawa (based on the village of Shirakawa, Gifu, a World Heritage Site),which has a population of approximately 2,000. The main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and befriends his new classmates Rena Ryuugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which consist mostly of card and board games (and punishment games for the loser, usually him.) Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village to Keiichi. However, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the day of the Watanagashi Festival. Keiichi himself soon becomes drawn into the strange events surrounding the Watanagashi Festival and Oyashiro. In each story arc, he or one of his friends become paranoid, and a crime is committed. Usually, the crime involves the murder of one of their own friends. While it seems impossible to tell their delusions apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, slowly the truth is revealed.

The Seijou Girls’ Academy Kendo Club is traveling to Shoushinji for a Summer training camp. Near there is an island, Urashima, where legend has it a demon extermination took place long ago.

They arrive around the time of a festival which honors a god that is worshipped by the people of Urashima; it celebrates the onitaiji and ensure another year of health for the people. Around the time of the festival, the weather around Urashima worsens and storms will come.

A few days into their training, Osanai Shouko finds a girl washed up on the shores near the location of the training camp. She cannot speak and doesn’t seem to know much about herself...