The story follows the reformed yakuza hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu, played by Tetsuya Watari, who is forced to roam Japan while avoiding execution by rival gangs.

One of Otsuka’s men, Tanaka, gets a tip from his girlfriend, Mutsuko, that Kurata went into debt with her boss, Yoshii, to buy his primary business, Club Alulu.

Otsuka visits Yoshii’s office and threatens him into selling Kurata’s debt to him so he can foreclose on it and take his properties.

Deadlocked, Kurata and Otsuka make Yoshii and Mutsuko’s deaths look like a lover’s suicide and the matter is temporarily resolved.

Infuriated by Tetsu’s foiling of his plan, Otsuka orders his top hitman, Tatsuzo the Viper, to kill him.

Tetsu manages to escape his pursuers while inflicting severe injuries to them, leaving Tanaka with a missing eye and Tatsuzo with a crushed hand and burnt face.

Tetsu eventually meets up with Kenji “Shooting Star” Aizawa, a former Otsuka man who defected from the group.

En route, he briefly runs into Chiharu, who’s been trying to find him, but he rejects her efforts to reunite and get him to come back home with her.

[1] Nikkatsu bosses had been warning Suzuki to tone down his bizarre visual style for years and drastically reduced Tokyo Drifter's budget in hopes of getting results.

This had the opposite effect in that Suzuki and art director Takeo Kimura pushed themselves to new heights of surrealism and absurdity.

[2] Because of budget limitations, Suzuki had to cut connecting shots out of many fights, leading to a need for more creative camera work.

He uses his depictions of yakuza relationships to show the inherent weakness of the archetype, particularly the possible abuses of power that can arise from unquestioning allegiance.