In the post-nuclear apocalyptic future in 199X, the human race has regressed. Weak villagers are reduced to slavery, while genetically enhanced giants rule the world. Gunpowder seems only a distant memory, and the martial arts is the only weapon a man can count on.

Two schools face one another in the battle for dominion: Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken. The series begins when the Hokuto successor, Kenshiro, travels the desert to confront Shin, a member of the Nanto Roku Seiken, their six ruling stars, who has taken his fiancee Yulia.