In the near-future city of New Port, Public Security Section 9 works the cases the police cannot touch: terror plots, corporate crime, cyberbrain hijackings. Major Motoko Kusanagi leads the squad in the field with Batou and ex-detective Togusa. The manga retells individual stand-alone episodes from the first Stand Alone Complex season, one self-contained investigation per volume, and leaves the Laughing Man arc to its sequel manga, The Laughing Man.