Their vengeance is relentless, their method is ritual, their weapon is secret, and the motive is in their blood. In a heavily wooded private estate in the Malibu Hills, towering above the tumbling Pacific, millionaire CEO Kenji Takeo and his daughter, Miko, prepare for the arrival from Japan of Takeo's wife, Kumiko. But the calm of Solstice Canyon is shattered by a meticulously planned stealth attack on the Takeo home by a masked band of ninja assassins. In a flash, Takeo's guards are killed. The mansion is overtaken, Takeo is killed, and Miko is left for dead. Arriving at the bloody scene is Detective Jack Barrett who encounters Miko-the only living witness. In a state of shock, she repeats only one word like an eerie mantra: kokushibyu. In her native language, it means Black Death.