During the violent era known as the Bakumatsu, there was an Ishin assassin known only as the Hitokiri Battousai, whose skill and brutality became near legendary in the age of Restoration he helped to build. However, as the time of fighting drew to a close, he vanished without a trace, only to resurface eleven years later as a wandering swordsman, Himura Kenshin. Now staying at a kenjutsu dojo maintained by a fiery-tempered woman named Kamiya Kaoru, and surrounded by newfound friends like the streetfighter Sagara Sanosuke, ex-samurai's son Myoujin Yahiko, and the shrewd doctor Takani Megumi, he seeks to carry out his vow to protect the weak without killing in order to atone for the lives he's taken. It's not long, though, before this vow is put to the test, and the shadows of his past return to haunt him and everyone he holds dear.