After a childhood accident, Shiki Tohno sees faint lines on everything around him; cut along one and the object falls apart, so he wears glasses that hide them. Newly returned to the Tohno estate, he loses control one evening and kills a woman named Arcueid Brunestud, only for her to walk up to him unharmed the next day and tell him he owes her his help. Arcueid, a centuries-old vampire, draws Shiki into a hunt for a killer stalking the city.