Paradise Kiss opens when Yukari Hayasaka, on her way home from school, is approached by a strange-looking guy with blond spiky hair, a spiked choker, and multiple piercings on his ears and face. Startled, she runs away and bumps into a very tall, beautiful purple-haired woman with a flower pattern around her eye. Yukari faints from shock and wakes later in a strange place called the Atelier, where she discovers that these strangers are fashion designers from the renowned Yazawa Art Academy, and that they want her to model for their brand in the academy's upcoming show.
Yukari refuses and escapes the Atelier, but she unknowingly leaves her school ID behind. When George Koizumi, the head designer, later finds it, he immediately decides that she is the perfect model for them and will not stop until he gets what he wants—and what he wants is Yukari. Until then, modeling had never seemed like anything more than frivolous to her, but the eccentric designers around the Atelier pull her into a world of art, ambition, and passion. As Yukari spends more time with them, she has to decide whether this strange new life can become something exciting, or whether it will leave her losing herself in the process.
