Shot on location in Kawasaki, the plot centers around Okita, a street thug and troublemaker released from prison after ten years only to discover that the criminal underworld in which he used to operate and the socio-political landscape of Japan has changed dramatically.

[3] The protagonist, Isamu Okita, mentions how he has the same birthday, August 15, and was born the same year, 1945, that Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, which he considers inauspicious.

With no education or money, he got into trouble and was sent to reform school twice, before forming a gang as a teenager and getting involved in extortion and kidnapping girls to sell to brothels on the mean streets of Kawasaki.

Kizaki, a yakuza expelled from his family, approaches Okita with a proposition: by recruiting local street punks, they can put together a new gang and go to war with Boss Takigawa, whom he perceives as weak.

Forced to reconcile with Takigawa, Okita becomes an officer of the Yato family with Kizaki as his second-in-command, getting his own territory to control and quickly becoming rich by running illegal dice games.

He also angers Boss Yato when he shows disrespect to Chairman Owada of the Saiei Group, an Osaka syndicate planning to form an alliance with Takigawa.

Yato has Boss Takigawa and his officers killed in a surprise attack and gives his territory to Owada as a peace offering, promising to get Okita to apologize if they will spare his life.