In the year 1863, Japan is experiencing violent clashes and murder as a result of political discord. To aid the Aizu forces in Kyoto, the Tokugawa Shogunate sends a new group of masterless samurai known as the Roshigumi. Unfortunately, they are far from a unified force and have already split into two opposing factions with one led by the brutal Serizawa Kamo and the other by the honorable but less assertive Isami Kondo. Ryunosuke Ibuki is forced into the pack of samurai by Serizawa, who sees him as a mere slave due to a blood debt. Initially, he despises everything about the samurai but soon realizes that there is still hope for himself and Japan if Kondo can overthrow Serizawa and assume a leadership role.