Massan is based on the lives of Masataka Taketsuru and his Scottish wife Jessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan, whom he met while studying abroad.

[1][2][3][4][5] When Masaharu Kameyama returns to his hometown Takehara in Hiroshima prefecture after spending two years in Scotland learning how to make whisky, he brings back with him Ellie, a woman whom he met and married there.

But Masashi, his father, is more forgiving, even encouraging his son to pursue his dream of making real whisky in Japan, despite the fact the family has run a sake brewery for generations.

After seeing his sister giving birth, and wondering if he can support Ellie once they have a child, Masaharu proposes to stay in Hiroshima and take over the sake business, but his father insists he should follow his dreams.

In Yoichi, Hokkaido, Masaharu runs into Kumatora Morino, a former samurai who made a fortune in the herring fishing business, who buys all his whisky to help him out.

Realizing his responsibility in raising a family, Masaharu returns to Osaka and accepts Kamoi's plan to produce lower-grade whisky more appealing to Japanese, to the protestations of Toshio and Eiichirō.

Apparently Kumatora's business had gone bust and he was deeply in debt, earning the resentment of everyone, including his son Kazuma.

Masaharu solves the situation by buying Kumatora's "herring mansion" (鰊御殿, nishin goten), who pays off his debts.

Masaharu's business is saved, as Japan heads towards war, by the Imperial Japanese Navy, which wants to secure a supply of domestic whisky.

Now operating as a designated supplier of the Navy, Masaharu's finances are finally stable, but after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Ellie is confronted with a major decision.

Emma also falls in love with Kazuma, whom Masaharu hopes to groom as his successor, but has to bear it when he is drafted and is sent off to war.

Several years later, Satoru is married with children and Emma returns from her job in England with a young man in tow.