In the rapidly converging landscape of the 21st century, Major Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including ghost hackers. When she tracks the trail of one hacker, her quest leads her to a world she could never have imagined.

Deep into the 21st century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg super-agent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including "ghost hackers," capable of exploiting the human/machine interface by reprogramming human minds to become puppets to carry out their criminal ends.