Hanamichi Sakuragi, a tall red-haired delinquent with a record of fifty romantic rejections, joins the Shohoku High School basketball team to impress Haruko Akagi, the first girl who isn't afraid of him. Under captain Takenori Akagi, Haruko's older brother, and alongside rival prodigy Kaede Rukawa, Sakuragi discovers genuine talent for the sport and an appetite for competition that soon overtakes his original motive.