The story takes place in particularly hot summer in 1994, in a small quiet Japanese village called Sotoba. A series of mysterious deaths begin to spread in the village, at the same time when a strange family moves into the long-abandoned Kanemasa mansion on top of a hill. Megumi Shimizu, a young girl who wanted to leave the village and move to the city, pays them a visit never to return. She is later found lying in the forest and tragically dies. Doctor Toshio Ozaki, director of Sotoba's only hospital, initially suspects an epidemic. However, as investigations continue and the deaths begin to pile up, he learns and becomes convinced that they are the work of the Shiki, vampire-like creatures, plaguing the village. A young man named Natsuno Yuuki, who hates living in the village, begins to be pursued and becomes surrounded by death.
