Japan, 1632. Hideki is one of the young descendants from the line of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He and Nagamasa, his older brother, are summoned to Edo at the announcement that the current shogun is retiring. Hideki is a likeable seventeen year old and a little of a rapscallion, prone to ducking his samurai responsibilities for more time in the dojo. The sword is his life and Bushido is his mantra. He dreams of being a great swordsman but has trouble even beating Nagamasa.

A transformation for Hideki begins when he witnesses the master swordsman Musashi, in the midst of his own musha shugyo (warrior's pilgrimage), challenge and defeat the head of the local dojo.

On their trek to Edo for an audience and evaluation, Hideki grows from a day dreaming teenager to a responsible man, dealing with his first crush on a woman, assassins out to extinguish his life, and deceptive and corrupt police and government officials along the way. He is aided in his journey by a deadly master duelist, a young ninja steeped in the old ways of the shinobi, and a princess of a large ninja clan who unknowingly falls in love with her target. And he is plagued by the notion that if his brother does become shogun, he will never be allowed the opportunity to become the swordsman he wants to be.

Hideki attracts a loyal following because of his childlike belief in Bushido as cure-all for everything, but he becomes internally conflicted when he learns his code may not provide all the answers.