In the Japan of 2029, where cyberbrains and prosthetic bodies are routine, Major Motoko Kusanagi leads Public Security Section 9, the covert unit that handles cyber-crime in Niihama. Her team goes after the Puppeteer, a ghost-hacker who takes over people's minds and has them commit crimes by proxy, leaving no trace of who is really acting. Kusanagi runs the case from a body that is almost entirely machine, and the hunt keeps pressing on the question of what part of her is still her own.