Set sometime in the late Muromachi period, Naomitsu Hatakeyama (Shun Oguri) is the second son of the distinguished Hatakeyama family. When the father of his lifelong friend and love interest Ako-hime (Yuki Shibamoto) dies, Yoshimasa Ashikaga (Kenichi Hagiwara) elicits a decree that will forever change their fates. Soon afterwards, Naomitsu is betrayed by his brother Nobutsuna (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), who plans to forcibly take Aho-hime for himself. Because his love for her is so strong, Naomitsu gives up his privileged life and flees into the mountains with Ako-hime to escape Nobutsuna. But, Whilst travelling through the mountains, they're soon attacked by a bandit named Tajomaru (Hiroki Matsukata). After managing to kill Tajomaru, Naomitsu takes the bandit's identity as his own.