When the riot squad starts shooting citizens during the holiday season, the Major and her team must track down a terrorist hacker who operates under the name Fire-Starter.

In the year 2027, a year following the end of the non-nuclear World War IV, a bomb has gone off in Newport City, killing a major arms dealer who may have ties with the mysterious 501 Organization. Public Security official Daisuke Aramaki hires full-body cyber prosthesis user and hacker extraordinaire, Motoko Kusanagi, to investigate.