Ponyo, a little fish girl, decides to discover the world and leaves the underwater home of her father, the wizard Fujimoto. Carried away by the current, she washes up on a beach where Sôsuke, a five-year-old boy who lives in the house on the cliff, discovers her. He decides to keep and protect her. Subjugated by Sôsuke and the universe she discovers, Ponyo has no idea of the forces she has just awakened by her only wish to join the world of men.

Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff) was released in 2009. With this tale, Miyazaki rediscovers the simplicity of his early films, their tenderness and poetry.