In 1461, a devastating famine and plague simultaneously struck Kyoto, leaving over 80,000 dead in just two months. The ruling powers are inept, never improving the lives of the less fortunate, but enjoy their wealth. Seeing the hellish landscape, a vagrant with lethal sword skills and wits, rallies a motley crew of martial arts experts and outlaws in a deadly uprising against the corrupt Shogunate and its army, led by his former friend-turned-foe.