The series chronicles the story of Seiji Chiga, a young man from Japan studying to become an artist on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and his interactions with his new friends, during the 1960s (the Shōwa period in Japan).
Ruhanga features in Bantu mythology as the remote creator and sky-God, recognised among the Bahuma, the Nyoro, the Tooro, the Chiga, the Bambwa, the Banyoro, and the Ankore.