Motoko Kusanagi's team is watching a New Port City on edge over foreign cartel money in the winter of 2028 when Daisuke Aramaki shuts the city down on a tip that a Qhardi cell is mobilizing near the Yotsubashi Building. The riot squad then opens fire on the crowd and on its own men. Kusanagi reads it as a self-destructing virus planted in their cyberbrains by the hacker called Fire Starter, and Batou pulls a cyborg girl named Emma Tsuda out of the panic. This fourth Arise film follows straight on from Ghost Tears.