The story follows Tateki Yokobe, a freshman in the math department of Yoshida University. Though formerly a top student, Yokobe quickly realises his eidetic memory is of no use in understanding highly abstract mathematical concepts. With the help of his friends though, he may well have a chance of surviving the course.

College-level mathematics is featured prominently in the manga series, including concepts in analysis, algebra and topology. For example, during the first lecture, our protagonist is utterly lost when he sees the definition of real numbers using Dedekind cuts for the first time.