Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some simply drive men mad. They are known as mushicreatures that came into being shortly after life emerged from the primordial ooze. They still exist parallel to our own lives and can only be seen by a select few. As a mushishi, Ginko is one of the few who are aware of their existense, and this young man with a sardonic smile roams from place to place with the knowledge and skill to aid those unwittingly affected by mushi.
Nebulous and unseen, mushi exist in a state somewhere between life and death. A small community of wandering healers and naturalists known as mushishi help humans affected by these mysterious entities. Ginko, with his green eye and white hair, is a mushishi. But when Ginko tries to help a boy who seems to have found spring in the middle of winter, he and the boy both become victims of lifesucking creatures.