Place in a futuristic Japan following the finish of a barbarous world war, science has advanced by leaps and bounds lending the choice to prolong life and reduce discomfort with the use of cybernetics to humankind. Together with humankind linked into one system of minds and personalities known as ghosts, the biggest threat to civilization may be the cyber-terrorists capable of imitating people's bodies and memories. Every time a virus known as Fire starter starts dispersing through the machine leading to the assassination of the Prime Minister, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her elite group of special operatives are called in to monitor its source. As they delve deeper and deeper into their investigation, they uncover traces of government corruption and a dark broker that bears an all-too-familiar face. The movie is a continuation into the storyline of Arise's Pyrophoric Cult bout, and ties up loose ends out of arc.