Ginko is sent on a fact-finding expedition to discover what the head of an ancient clan of mushishi is doing in an isolated, abandoned Japanese village. But the answer may be more than Ginko can handle: the Ragged Road he is investigating leads to mushi that can leave a man worse than dead!

A man, afflicted with the gift of seeing strange natural spirits called Mushi, travels the countryside ridding people of these ancient, troublesome forces. He is haunted by the childhood events that turned him into a Mushi-Shi, or Mushi Master, and struggles with the realization that the very same Mushi that changed him could now be controlling an old mentor and wrecking havoc on the natural world.