World War III breaks loose in 1988. In 2019, Tokyo is a megalopolis. Kaneda is the leader of a group of young robust delinquents who spends his nights tearing through the urban wastes and racing his motorbike against rival groups. One night while out riding with his gang, his friend Tetsuo suddenly encounters a strange boy. He is the product of human experimentation and is injured in an ensuing crash. Shortly therafter, a military squadron appears on the scene to take the boy and Tetsuo away to an army research facility. Determined to free Tetsuo, Kaneda sneaks into the facitily. However, a regimen of extreme experimental procedures has awakened a new power in his friend, and now he is consumed by madness.