春太郎在高崎的宗兵衛親分处脱草鞋时，因一宿一飯的情义，伤了渋川的治三郎后踏上旅途。胜浦的島蔵觊觎治三郎的女儿お品和地盘，杀害了治三郎并嫁祸给春太郎。お品为追寻春太郎踏上旅途，島蔵也带着手下出发，妄图斩杀春太郎掩盖恶行。春太郎对此一无所知，继续着自己的旅程。有两人暗中留意着春太郎，一位是对他心怀好感的旅途中的年轻武士大野木伊織，另一位是お品的手下どろんの半助。在善光寺街道田中宿处，深夜时お品袭击春太郎，好在伊織机智出手，春太郎才得以获救。春太郎告知お品真正的凶手另有其人后，便跑出了宿处。島蔵一行人在下戸倉借助二足の草鞋的伝兵衛親分的帮助袭击春太郎。混战中，春太郎遇见了被女衒六造欺骗并软禁的お咲，得知故乡变故后，两人一同奔向柏崎。越后……

In the era of the twelfth Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi, a notorious bandit known as "Shippu" (or "Swift Wind") emerged in Edo. Shippu would send a warning message called the "Thief's Summons" before striking, yet despite the magistrate's desperate search efforts, they couldn't find any leads. One day, a summons was shot into the residence of Ono Ryusai, who was leading a peaceful retirement life with his two concubines, O-Ran and O-Koshi. With the summons, various individuals including O-Ran's brother Itami Shigoshiro, the master of the Muso-ryu dojo, vigilante Mankichiro, rope expert Gohei, and Den'ichi from Kuromon Town were assigned to monitor the situation. However, while they were distracted by a neighboring fire, a chest containing a thousand ryo was stolen, and O-Koshi was killed.