The protagonist is the virgin albino woman Saiki Misaki holding down three jobs, none of which she finds herself particularly happy with; as a dominatrix in a BDSM club, as a writer of a column for a porno magazine, and as a civil servant in the employ of The Livelihood Preservation Group as a necromancer able to perceive and to communicate with ghosts, sometimes allowing them to speak through her with the living.

Misaki considers her shamanic civil service position even more tawdry and less respectable than her sex work.

Subplots are usually one or two chapters in length and tend to involve the introduction of new characters to help develop the motivations of the leads.

The Japanese title translates as teizoku = vulgar + rei = ghost.

Vulgar Ghost Daydream has also been produced as a short run OVA anime of four episodes in 2004.